All good things eventually come to an end, and sports aren’t the exception to that rule. Even though he’s been a familiar face on Spain’s roster for over a decade,Real Madrid star Sergio Ramos won’t be a part of the national team in the upcoming Euro 2020.
Ramos has struggled to stay healthyfor most of the season. In fact, he suffered an injury while on international duty that kept him out of the most important stretch of Real Madrid’s campaign.
That’s why boss Luis Enrique has made the tough decision to snub him from his squad for the upcoming continental competition, a somewhat shocking event for the soccer community given Ramos’ experience and leadership.
Luis Enrique Snubs Sergio Ramos From Spain Squad For Euro 2020
“I told Ramos last night on the phone. He’s barely played or trained with the squad since January. I care about the benefit of our squad and I told him to be selfish so that he could be back to his good form and keep playing for his club and country,” Luis Enrique told Lucas Navarrete, as quoted by 90min.
Luis Enrique leaned towards a renewed and revamped defense for the European competition. Now, it’ll be up to Aymeric Laporte, Pau Torres, Eric Garcia, and Diego Llorente to hold the fort for La Roja.
Notably, this will be the first time in national team history that the squad doesn’t feature a single player from Real Madrid. According to Miguel Delaney of The Independent, Spain had always featured at least two ‘Merengues’, except in 1950 when they had just one representative.
Needless to say, that prompted some criticism among Real Madrid supporters on social media, claiming that the former Barcelona superstar and coachis biased against his lifelong rivals.
Whether that’s the case or not, we can all agree that Ramos has had a great run with the national team and has been a huge factor behind their success over a decade and a half. But as we said, all good things eventually come to an end.