BARCELONA, Sep 30: So long the scourge of Barcelona, Sergio Ramos unwittingly came to its aid on Friday.
The former Real Madrid defender scored an own goal that handed Barcelona a 1-0 win over Sevilla and sent the Catalan club back to the top of the Spanish league.
The veteran center back inadvertently turned in a headed pass by Lamine Yamal into Sevilla’s goal in the 76th minute.
The 37-year-old Ramos returned to Sevilla, his boyhood club, this month after leaving Paris Saint-Germain. Barcelona’s fans jeered Ramos early in the game because of his past stint with Madrid, where he played 45 “clasico” games against the Catalan club between 2005-21.
After an evenly matched first half, Barcelona was pressing Sevilla into its box when the 16-year-old Lamal helped produce the breakthrough. Yamal was trying to head a lobbed pass by substitute Ferran Torres to teammate Fermin López when it hit Ramos and deflected into the net.
During the game, a video clip was played on Spanish news websites from a Barcelona vs. Madrid game in 2016 when Ramos was accompanied onto the field by Yamal when he was a young boy.
“Circumstance of life,” Barcelona coach Xavi Hernández said about Yamal and Ramos now playing against one another.
“Who would have predicted that Yamal would be playing him at age 16, and it is to Sergio’s credit that he is still playing at this level,” said Xavi, who was Ramos’ rival at Barcelona and his teammate on the Spain team that won the 2010 World Cup. (AP)
