The Champions League semi final draw will be made on Friday afternoon and none of the other three teams would be overly keen on facing reigning champions Real Madrid.
On the other hand, if Sergio Ramos is suspended and given some of Real’s shambolic defending in their second leg loss to Juventus, perhaps they would.
Football fans were given a glimpse of a relaxed Sergio Ramos watching his Real Madrid side from a team box at the Santiago de Bernabeu, on Wednesday night, as they took on the Italian champions. Ramos was suspended from the quarter final second leg after picking up as booking in Turin.
Even though Real were 1-0 behind [leading 3-1 on aggregate] midway through the first half, the Spanish defender appeared to be in relaxed mood.
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We saw no more of him in the latter stages of the half, when Mario Mandzukic headed home his second goal, but he did get a lot of screen time in the second half.
Ramos made his way down to the sidelines for a fraught half of football that saw Juve draw level, on aggregate, at 3-3 when Blaise Matuidi took advantage of a goalkeeping ricket to poke the ball home. Real were in trouble but they pressed for a late goal that would see them through and were rewarded when referee Michael Oliver pointed to the spot after a Medhi Benatia foul.
Ramos was living every excruciating, pulsating moment.
The 32-year-old should never have been allowed on the sidelines, however.
As he was suspended, Ramos was not allowed near his team bench and should have remained out of sight. Not only did he show up for the second half, to lend his support, he got himself involved in an argument with Juve coach Massimo Allegri.
Allegri legitimately asked, post-match, why Ramos was present on the Real bench and noted that Juan Cuadrado, his own player, had been strictly warned by Uefa to stay away when he was suspended earlier this season.
Ramos may now be ht with an additional ban for his appearance on the sidelines. According to Cadero Cope, Ramos could be suspended for one more game, the semi final first leg.
Uefa meted out a similar punishment to the suspended Xabi Alonso, a few years back, when he appeared on the team bench despite being banned from playing in the Champions League final, in Lisbon.
