After last night’s clash between Real Madrid and Manchester United, the limelight was rightly shone on players that set the game alight: Di Maria, Welbeck and of course Christiano Ronaldo. Their contributions made the game a scintillating tie and set up what could be a brilliant second leg at Old Trafford. Most of what you read following the game will focus on these players, it will brush over the actions of Sergio Ramos and the two unjust yellow cards that he earned United with what boils down to cheating.
If you saw the game then you saw what it is I’m talking about. I despise diving in general, it cheapens the game and gives its critics more ammo that it’s hard to respond to, but Ramos drew attention to a certain sort of dive last night. The Madrid centre half set out to get United players booked by faking injury. Robin Van Persie and Antonio Valencia picked up yellow cards last night for what were essentially the same offences, jumping up and brushing Ramos’s face with their hand/arm, he then hit the deck holding his face and moaning in agony. Both times he did this were competing in the middle of the pitch and not in either of the boxes, so he clearly wasn’t trying to gain a goalscoring opportunity. It’s wrong to dive wherever you are on the pitch, but you have to question a player’s integrity when it happens in this context.
Most dives seem to take place in and around the opposition’s box with a view to getting a penalty or a free kick, but I find the ridiculous middle and edge of the pitch displays of acting like that of Ramos last night to be almost worse in a way. It reminds me of in the 2002 World Cup when the brilliant Rivaldo had the ball kicked at his upper legs whilst taking a corner and went down clutching his face, it resulted in Turkey’s Hakan Unsal receiving a second yellow and being dismissed from play. What’s sad is that I remember seeing this as a child so much clearer than I remember his moments of genius. The same goes for Ramos, I think of his absurd dives and feigned injuries before I think of his often remarkable defensive performances.
I remember watching a friend’s ten year old cousin play football recently and seeing one of his teammates fall to the ground rolling, hands glued to his face and moaning loudly, following a tackle. It was quite disturbing to see. Where has he learned that I wonder? Compulsive cheats like Ramos and the rest legitimise it for youngsters who know no different and copy them. FIFA further legitimise it for the players by refusing to call it cheating. Perhaps this is a good place to start, stop calling it simulation and start calling it cheating.
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Click to ClaimJack produces topical blogs for Howtobet4free tackling the key issues in the world of sport. Jack also publishes articles for a number of publications each week, and can be found on Twitter by following @JWinterr.
