For years the only major changes in Sergio Ramos’s life were which trophy he lifted, the look of his haircuts and where to site his latest tattoo on an overcrowded torso. Continuity was a constant.
Real Madrid’s perpetual leader – with the fourth most appearances in club history (671), always inspiring Spain in the 180 games he played for his country, and captain for each of Los Blancos’ three consecutive Champions League wins between 2016 and 2018 – seemed guaranteed to see out his career with Madrid following 16 years at the Bernabéu.
Then Luis Enrique didn’t need him for La Roja and injuries became irritatingly hard to shake. Neither Ramos, nor Madrid president Florentino Pérez, could find the right formula to extend his contract. Suddenly change wasn’t a foreign concept but a foreign destination: Paris.
Currently it’s going swimmingly. Initially there was a degree of staying afloat, as he told Champions Journal. “Leaving Real Madrid meant huge change. It was an opportunity for a change of scenery while maintaining a high level at another club. A year and a half later I’ve a different perspective on the pros and cons of this decision.
“Nevertheless, things were initially very difficult. You have to find a home and settle down, and when you come with a family of four kids, it’s not the same as when you’re roaming around as you please without a partner or children. Then you find a flat and get used to the city very fast!
“Once things worked out, I could enjoy feeling comfortable on a football pitch again. I’m very happy to be at my best physically and it all lends clarity to my decision. When you take a leap, everything goes wrong, you get injured and you have a hard time recovering, adapting to the new system, the new team, the new manager… you can doubt whether you’ve done the right thing.
“But my career is defined by perseverance and hard work. Training consistently day in and day out, not throwing in the towel – keeping fighting. Eventually you make it to the top again, you thrive, and that’s where I am right now. The Parisians, the French, the club: everyone has treated us very well since we came here.”
How he’s playing, how integrated he is and whether he can inspire PSG past Bayern München in the next round are all vital. The man who scored against Atlético de Madrid in both the 2014 and 2016 Champions League finals wants a fifth winner’s medal. But he’s a proud dad and it’s equally vital, to him and his wife, that the four youngsters are also thriving.
“When you choose a new club, you don’t think about the weather or the city, or what you’ll find there. You see those things once you’ve moved. But if you talk about Ramos, you’re talking about me and my family. We’re a pack, we move together. We make a decision and we go together, no matter where it is.
“At first we were most worried about the kids, but children adapt very naturally and very fast. Now they go to school with my team-mates’ kids, they have a good time, they enjoy, they absorb the new language and the new culture. It’s a learning experience for all of us. We’re thrilled to get to know the city of Paris – the culture, the museums – and then to try to win, both in general and especially in the Champions League, which PSG have never had a chance to do.
“I was convinced this club and I could form the perfect relationship – otherwise I wouldn’t be here! Marriages are always based on this dream, that it will be perfect and that everything will go great. You have a plan, but football isn’t mathematics. It’s not always the best teams that win. But I’m where I want to be, at a club with so much hunger to win the Champions League. I want to make the most of it until the last day.”
Ramos turns 37 on 30 March, so when will that last day in boots be? And what will this behemoth of the European game do then? “It’s a bit early to predict the future but I’m into many things like art and music – but my family are a priority. I invest a lot of time in football, so I’ve not had time for them.
“When I retire I’ll spend two years dedicated to my children’s upbringing, experiencing everyday things that you can’t do while in football, like skiing, taking the kids on holiday with no pressure, taking them to tennis class – a normal life that my career hasn’t allowed me. However, what ultimately fires my adrenaline is football. It’s what I do best. Our sport needs experienced people, who’ve won things, to pass the information onto the youngsters coming through, via coaching and directing. I could see myself being a president or a sporting director or coach; I couldn’t say which one but something like that.”
For those of us who enjoy the Ramos Show, the refrain is: “May that day be far away.” Enjoy it while you can.
Well, I’ve always been someone who likes challenges, one of my best qualities, if I had to say one, is that I normally focus on the good things. I definitely learn from the bad, but I normally have positive things in mind, things that make me happy, that remind me of positive moments. When I think about Bayern, I think about the day I scored against them [in the quarter-finals in the 2016/17]. That’s the truth and the best way of preparing myself for this match. Of course, we know they’re one of the best and most solid teams you can come up against.
For us it’s a challenge, getting through the knockouts … [it] would be a very positive message to send to the world, to strengthen the team, to leave Bayern behind after a good knockout would be really good. I don’t think about things that might’ve gone badly in the past, I focus on the good, but also, I recognise that to win the Champions League, you have to win against the best and Bayern are one of those teams every year.
It’s personal. Everyone will like what they like. Above all, I would highlight group management. Regardless of whether some coaches think so or not, I think it’s important to not lie to players, that the squad thinks the coach is part of the group, that all the decisions taken are done as one.
Knowing how to manage all this, leaving their door open to you in their dressing room, in their office, for any problem at all… is just as important as the tactical or technical knowledge they might have. I think over time this is shown in their football. This is the type of coach that ends up winning, because they end up solidifying the group, bringing the group together, they end up all as one. As they’ve always said, “The coach dies for his players and the players die for their coach, ”despite that you can only play 11 players. That’s difficult to handle and that’s what I would highlight about [Cristophe] Galtier. How natural and humble he was when he came to the team, in the dressing room. He’s a coach who never lies, who says it to your face and that, for me, is very important. He also knows how to manage well. He’s a coach who has won with other teams before PSG, and that also requires an experience that he’s transferring to the group, which we’re really happy about.
At the end of the day, you can have a plan, but football isn’t mathematics. The best teams don’t always win. But what is clear is that I’m in a place where I want to be and I’m in a club with so much hunger to win the Champions League. And on a personal level I think my daily motivation is to win. When it comes down to it, not winning doesn’t destroy me, but it’s always my aim, what I have and what I drill into myself, to get up every day with this drive, ambition and hunger to keep winning. I want to make the most of it until the last day of my life while I feel good. Right now, I feel that I’m in a perfect marriage with my club and I think I’m in a team who's got a great chance of doing well in this competition.
I’ve always said that you savour it much more as time goes on, because at the end of the day winning your first Champions League is unforgettable; you lift it, you drink it in, then you win it again, then three times in a row, then a fourth… It all blends into one and football moves so quickly that it gives you no time to say, “Wow! We’ve won four Champions League in five seasons.” You’ve got no time to enjoy it. The same thing happened when we won the World Cup in 2010, football moves so quickly that you think, “We should’ve taken a year off to celebrate the World Cup win, all of the Champions Leagues we won.”
And as time goes by and you row and you want to make the most of your final years you realise, “Wow! We won all of this, and in three weeks’ time pre-season will start up … the first game of the league.” The past is left in the past.
In football, unfortunately you can’t live in the past, you’ve got to show your best every day, you’ve got to keep on winning every season, and this isn’t unfair, that’s the reality of football. I think in the future I’ll enjoy it a lot more with my kids, with my parents, with my grandkids, telling them everything I did. When you win it, you grab it, lift it, people are taking photos, doing interviews, you get two weeks off and then pre-season starts up. So you’ve got to move on. This is the only pity about winning, that it’s over so quickly that you’ve got no time to drink it in.
For years the only major changes in Sergio Ramos’s life were which trophy he lifted, the look of his haircuts and where to site his latest tattoo on an overcrowded torso. Continuity was a constant.
Real Madrid’s perpetual leader – with the fourth most appearances in club history (671), always inspiring Spain in the 180 games he played for his country, and captain for each of Los Blancos’ three consecutive Champions League wins between 2016 and 2018 – seemed guaranteed to see out his career with Madrid following 16 years at the Bernabéu.
Then Luis Enrique didn’t need him for La Roja and injuries became irritatingly hard to shake. Neither Ramos, nor Madrid president Florentino Pérez, could find the right formula to extend his contract. Suddenly change wasn’t a foreign concept but a foreign destination: Paris.
Currently it’s going swimmingly. Initially there was a degree of staying afloat, as he told Champions Journal. “Leaving Real Madrid meant huge change. It was an opportunity for a change of scenery while maintaining a high level at another club. A year and a half later I’ve a different perspective on the pros and cons of this decision.
“Nevertheless, things were initially very difficult. You have to find a home and settle down, and when you come with a family of four kids, it’s not the same as when you’re roaming around as you please without a partner or children. Then you find a flat and get used to the city very fast!
“Once things worked out, I could enjoy feeling comfortable on a football pitch again. I’m very happy to be at my best physically and it all lends clarity to my decision. When you take a leap, everything goes wrong, you get injured and you have a hard time recovering, adapting to the new system, the new team, the new manager… you can doubt whether you’ve done the right thing.
“But my career is defined by perseverance and hard work. Training consistently day in and day out, not throwing in the towel – keeping fighting. Eventually you make it to the top again, you thrive, and that’s where I am right now. The Parisians, the French, the club: everyone has treated us very well since we came here.”
How he’s playing, how integrated he is and whether he can inspire PSG past Bayern München in the next round are all vital. The man who scored against Atlético de Madrid in both the 2014 and 2016 Champions League finals wants a fifth winner’s medal. But he’s a proud dad and it’s equally vital, to him and his wife, that the four youngsters are also thriving.
“When you choose a new club, you don’t think about the weather or the city, or what you’ll find there. You see those things once you’ve moved. But if you talk about Ramos, you’re talking about me and my family. We’re a pack, we move together. We make a decision and we go together, no matter where it is.
“At first we were most worried about the kids, but children adapt very naturally and very fast. Now they go to school with my team-mates’ kids, they have a good time, they enjoy, they absorb the new language and the new culture. It’s a learning experience for all of us. We’re thrilled to get to know the city of Paris – the culture, the museums – and then to try to win, both in general and especially in the Champions League, which PSG have never had a chance to do.
“I was convinced this club and I could form the perfect relationship – otherwise I wouldn’t be here! Marriages are always based on this dream, that it will be perfect and that everything will go great. You have a plan, but football isn’t mathematics. It’s not always the best teams that win. But I’m where I want to be, at a club with so much hunger to win the Champions League. I want to make the most of it until the last day.”
Ramos turns 37 on 30 March, so when will that last day in boots be? And what will this behemoth of the European game do then? “It’s a bit early to predict the future but I’m into many things like art and music – but my family are a priority. I invest a lot of time in football, so I’ve not had time for them.
“When I retire I’ll spend two years dedicated to my children’s upbringing, experiencing everyday things that you can’t do while in football, like skiing, taking the kids on holiday with no pressure, taking them to tennis class – a normal life that my career hasn’t allowed me. However, what ultimately fires my adrenaline is football. It’s what I do best. Our sport needs experienced people, who’ve won things, to pass the information onto the youngsters coming through, via coaching and directing. I could see myself being a president or a sporting director or coach; I couldn’t say which one but something like that.”
For those of us who enjoy the Ramos Show, the refrain is: “May that day be far away.” Enjoy it while you can.
Well, I’ve always been someone who likes challenges, one of my best qualities, if I had to say one, is that I normally focus on the good things. I definitely learn from the bad, but I normally have positive things in mind, things that make me happy, that remind me of positive moments. When I think about Bayern, I think about the day I scored against them [in the quarter-finals in the 2016/17]. That’s the truth and the best way of preparing myself for this match. Of course, we know they’re one of the best and most solid teams you can come up against.
For us it’s a challenge, getting through the knockouts … [it] would be a very positive message to send to the world, to strengthen the team, to leave Bayern behind after a good knockout would be really good. I don’t think about things that might’ve gone badly in the past, I focus on the good, but also, I recognise that to win the Champions League, you have to win against the best and Bayern are one of those teams every year.
It’s personal. Everyone will like what they like. Above all, I would highlight group management. Regardless of whether some coaches think so or not, I think it’s important to not lie to players, that the squad thinks the coach is part of the group, that all the decisions taken are done as one.
Knowing how to manage all this, leaving their door open to you in their dressing room, in their office, for any problem at all… is just as important as the tactical or technical knowledge they might have. I think over time this is shown in their football. This is the type of coach that ends up winning, because they end up solidifying the group, bringing the group together, they end up all as one. As they’ve always said, “The coach dies for his players and the players die for their coach, ”despite that you can only play 11 players. That’s difficult to handle and that’s what I would highlight about [Cristophe] Galtier. How natural and humble he was when he came to the team, in the dressing room. He’s a coach who never lies, who says it to your face and that, for me, is very important. He also knows how to manage well. He’s a coach who has won with other teams before PSG, and that also requires an experience that he’s transferring to the group, which we’re really happy about.
At the end of the day, you can have a plan, but football isn’t mathematics. The best teams don’t always win. But what is clear is that I’m in a place where I want to be and I’m in a club with so much hunger to win the Champions League. And on a personal level I think my daily motivation is to win. When it comes down to it, not winning doesn’t destroy me, but it’s always my aim, what I have and what I drill into myself, to get up every day with this drive, ambition and hunger to keep winning. I want to make the most of it until the last day of my life while I feel good. Right now, I feel that I’m in a perfect marriage with my club and I think I’m in a team who's got a great chance of doing well in this competition.
I’ve always said that you savour it much more as time goes on, because at the end of the day winning your first Champions League is unforgettable; you lift it, you drink it in, then you win it again, then three times in a row, then a fourth… It all blends into one and football moves so quickly that it gives you no time to say, “Wow! We’ve won four Champions League in five seasons.” You’ve got no time to enjoy it. The same thing happened when we won the World Cup in 2010, football moves so quickly that you think, “We should’ve taken a year off to celebrate the World Cup win, all of the Champions Leagues we won.”
And as time goes by and you row and you want to make the most of your final years you realise, “Wow! We won all of this, and in three weeks’ time pre-season will start up … the first game of the league.” The past is left in the past.
In football, unfortunately you can’t live in the past, you’ve got to show your best every day, you’ve got to keep on winning every season, and this isn’t unfair, that’s the reality of football. I think in the future I’ll enjoy it a lot more with my kids, with my parents, with my grandkids, telling them everything I did. When you win it, you grab it, lift it, people are taking photos, doing interviews, you get two weeks off and then pre-season starts up. So you’ve got to move on. This is the only pity about winning, that it’s over so quickly that you’ve got no time to drink it in.
For years the only major changes in Sergio Ramos’s life were which trophy he lifted, the look of his haircuts and where to site his latest tattoo on an overcrowded torso. Continuity was a constant.
Real Madrid’s perpetual leader – with the fourth most appearances in club history (671), always inspiring Spain in the 180 games he played for his country, and captain for each of Los Blancos’ three consecutive Champions League wins between 2016 and 2018 – seemed guaranteed to see out his career with Madrid following 16 years at the Bernabéu.
Then Luis Enrique didn’t need him for La Roja and injuries became irritatingly hard to shake. Neither Ramos, nor Madrid president Florentino Pérez, could find the right formula to extend his contract. Suddenly change wasn’t a foreign concept but a foreign destination: Paris.
Currently it’s going swimmingly. Initially there was a degree of staying afloat, as he told Champions Journal. “Leaving Real Madrid meant huge change. It was an opportunity for a change of scenery while maintaining a high level at another club. A year and a half later I’ve a different perspective on the pros and cons of this decision.
“Nevertheless, things were initially very difficult. You have to find a home and settle down, and when you come with a family of four kids, it’s not the same as when you’re roaming around as you please without a partner or children. Then you find a flat and get used to the city very fast!
“Once things worked out, I could enjoy feeling comfortable on a football pitch again. I’m very happy to be at my best physically and it all lends clarity to my decision. When you take a leap, everything goes wrong, you get injured and you have a hard time recovering, adapting to the new system, the new team, the new manager… you can doubt whether you’ve done the right thing.
“But my career is defined by perseverance and hard work. Training consistently day in and day out, not throwing in the towel – keeping fighting. Eventually you make it to the top again, you thrive, and that’s where I am right now. The Parisians, the French, the club: everyone has treated us very well since we came here.”
How he’s playing, how integrated he is and whether he can inspire PSG past Bayern München in the next round are all vital. The man who scored against Atlético de Madrid in both the 2014 and 2016 Champions League finals wants a fifth winner’s medal. But he’s a proud dad and it’s equally vital, to him and his wife, that the four youngsters are also thriving.
“When you choose a new club, you don’t think about the weather or the city, or what you’ll find there. You see those things once you’ve moved. But if you talk about Ramos, you’re talking about me and my family. We’re a pack, we move together. We make a decision and we go together, no matter where it is.
“At first we were most worried about the kids, but children adapt very naturally and very fast. Now they go to school with my team-mates’ kids, they have a good time, they enjoy, they absorb the new language and the new culture. It’s a learning experience for all of us. We’re thrilled to get to know the city of Paris – the culture, the museums – and then to try to win, both in general and especially in the Champions League, which PSG have never had a chance to do.
“I was convinced this club and I could form the perfect relationship – otherwise I wouldn’t be here! Marriages are always based on this dream, that it will be perfect and that everything will go great. You have a plan, but football isn’t mathematics. It’s not always the best teams that win. But I’m where I want to be, at a club with so much hunger to win the Champions League. I want to make the most of it until the last day.”
Ramos turns 37 on 30 March, so when will that last day in boots be? And what will this behemoth of the European game do then? “It’s a bit early to predict the future but I’m into many things like art and music – but my family are a priority. I invest a lot of time in football, so I’ve not had time for them.
“When I retire I’ll spend two years dedicated to my children’s upbringing, experiencing everyday things that you can’t do while in football, like skiing, taking the kids on holiday with no pressure, taking them to tennis class – a normal life that my career hasn’t allowed me. However, what ultimately fires my adrenaline is football. It’s what I do best. Our sport needs experienced people, who’ve won things, to pass the information onto the youngsters coming through, via coaching and directing. I could see myself being a president or a sporting director or coach; I couldn’t say which one but something like that.”
For those of us who enjoy the Ramos Show, the refrain is: “May that day be far away.” Enjoy it while you can.
Well, I’ve always been someone who likes challenges, one of my best qualities, if I had to say one, is that I normally focus on the good things. I definitely learn from the bad, but I normally have positive things in mind, things that make me happy, that remind me of positive moments. When I think about Bayern, I think about the day I scored against them [in the quarter-finals in the 2016/17]. That’s the truth and the best way of preparing myself for this match. Of course, we know they’re one of the best and most solid teams you can come up against.
For us it’s a challenge, getting through the knockouts … [it] would be a very positive message to send to the world, to strengthen the team, to leave Bayern behind after a good knockout would be really good. I don’t think about things that might’ve gone badly in the past, I focus on the good, but also, I recognise that to win the Champions League, you have to win against the best and Bayern are one of those teams every year.
It’s personal. Everyone will like what they like. Above all, I would highlight group management. Regardless of whether some coaches think so or not, I think it’s important to not lie to players, that the squad thinks the coach is part of the group, that all the decisions taken are done as one.
Knowing how to manage all this, leaving their door open to you in their dressing room, in their office, for any problem at all… is just as important as the tactical or technical knowledge they might have. I think over time this is shown in their football. This is the type of coach that ends up winning, because they end up solidifying the group, bringing the group together, they end up all as one. As they’ve always said, “The coach dies for his players and the players die for their coach, ”despite that you can only play 11 players. That’s difficult to handle and that’s what I would highlight about [Cristophe] Galtier. How natural and humble he was when he came to the team, in the dressing room. He’s a coach who never lies, who says it to your face and that, for me, is very important. He also knows how to manage well. He’s a coach who has won with other teams before PSG, and that also requires an experience that he’s transferring to the group, which we’re really happy about.
At the end of the day, you can have a plan, but football isn’t mathematics. The best teams don’t always win. But what is clear is that I’m in a place where I want to be and I’m in a club with so much hunger to win the Champions League. And on a personal level I think my daily motivation is to win. When it comes down to it, not winning doesn’t destroy me, but it’s always my aim, what I have and what I drill into myself, to get up every day with this drive, ambition and hunger to keep winning. I want to make the most of it until the last day of my life while I feel good. Right now, I feel that I’m in a perfect marriage with my club and I think I’m in a team who's got a great chance of doing well in this competition.
I’ve always said that you savour it much more as time goes on, because at the end of the day winning your first Champions League is unforgettable; you lift it, you drink it in, then you win it again, then three times in a row, then a fourth… It all blends into one and football moves so quickly that it gives you no time to say, “Wow! We’ve won four Champions League in five seasons.” You’ve got no time to enjoy it. The same thing happened when we won the World Cup in 2010, football moves so quickly that you think, “We should’ve taken a year off to celebrate the World Cup win, all of the Champions Leagues we won.”
And as time goes by and you row and you want to make the most of your final years you realise, “Wow! We won all of this, and in three weeks’ time pre-season will start up … the first game of the league.” The past is left in the past.
In football, unfortunately you can’t live in the past, you’ve got to show your best every day, you’ve got to keep on winning every season, and this isn’t unfair, that’s the reality of football. I think in the future I’ll enjoy it a lot more with my kids, with my parents, with my grandkids, telling them everything I did. When you win it, you grab it, lift it, people are taking photos, doing interviews, you get two weeks off and then pre-season starts up. So you’ve got to move on. This is the only pity about winning, that it’s over so quickly that you’ve got no time to drink it in.
