Despite the enmity between Real Madrid captain Sergio
Ramos at Barcelona, the Spanish defender did not brag
about the Barcelona superstar, Lionel Messi.
Speaking of Messi before the “El Clásico” website on
Sunday evening, Ramos praised the Argentine star, and
stressed that he had “great respect” for him, in an
interview with the “Jules” website.
“I think he is one of the best players in history and I have
a lot of respect for him,” said the 33-year-old Spanish
defender.
He added: “I hope Messi will not be in his day tomorrow,
and if not, this means that we have accomplished our
mission, and it will be better as well if we achieve a good
result in the match.”
Real Madrid faces their Catalan rivals at the top of the
Spanish League at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium, on
Sunday, two points behind them at the top of the
standings.
The confrontation comes days after the club lost its
“Royal” home stadium against Manchester City, by
going to the round of 16 of the Champions League, in a
match in which Ramos was sent off in the last minutes.
And on the way to stop Barcelona in the “El Clasico”,
Ramos said: “Exercising high pressure on them is risky
but it causes them problems. In the past this did not
happen much, perhaps because the teams respected them
a lot, which allowed them to get the ball out of their area
easily from defense.” .
“I think this is the key to winning, pushing high on the
field and trying to cut the ball from them, then we will
bother them a lot,” the Real Madrid captain added.
Ramos continued his speech on Messi: “I wish him the
best as a professional fellow, provided that he does not
influence us in a negative way.”
He added, “I have my full respect. I think he is among
the best.”
Ramos and his teammates will try to snatch the lead from
Barcelona, by defeating them in the match, because
defeat will mean Barcelona are away by 5 points at the
top, which will complicate the task of achieving the
league title.
