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20th Jan 2017

Iago Aspas gives incredibly diplomatic response to being spat at by Sergio Ramos

Being the bigger man

Ben Kiely

Not many people would have reacted to this the way Iago Aspas did.

The former Liverpool man bagged a goal during Celta Vigo’s 2-1 win over Real Madrid in the quarter-finals of the Copa del Rey on Wednesday night.

Although it marked another defeat for Los Blancos after their amazing 40-match unbeaten run came to a crashing halt courtesy of Sevilla, it wasn’t the final scoreline that was the main talking point of the game. Instead an on-field incident involving Madrid captain Sergio Ramos and Aspas was dominating the headlines.

Footage of Ramos hocking a loogie towards the striker during the game began doing the rounds on social media and although the Celta Vigo striker didn’t seem to notice it at the time, the video evidence was pretty damning.

https://twitter.com/90thMin/status/822177220647153664

Aspas has confirmed to Deportes Cuatro (quotes via Marca) that he was unaware that Ramos spat at him until after the game when he saw the footage. He played down the incident massively and did not call for Ramos to be punished for his actions.

“I didn’t even realize. I only saw it when someone sent me the video, but to be honest I didn’t even notice at the time.”

“They’re things that happen a thousand times on the pitch, but they stay on the pitch.”

Aspas should be applauded for keeping his cool here, a lesser man would have lost it.

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