Real Madrid's José Mourinho, Sergio Ramos Saga Goes On


The manager is not happy on the eve of the clash with Barcelona due to strained relations with one of his key players.

Most players swap shirts at full-time but Sergio Ramos and Mesut Ozil swapped theirs 45 minutes earlier. In a tense Bernabéu dressing room last Sunday, José Mourinho decided to make a change and words were exchanged. Although Real Madrid were 3-1 up against Deportivo La Coruña, Mourinho was not particularly pleased with what he had seen. Ozil was taken off and Kaká was sent on for the second half. Sitting not far from Ozil was Ramos. When the German took his shirt off, Ramos put it on underneath his own.
No one would have noticed had it not been for a photographer from Marca. Just about visible on Ramos's back, peering through his own shirt was: Ozil, 10. It was meant as a gesture of support but, given the context, you could be forgiven for seeing it as an act of subversion. Here was a challenge to his manager – and a very public one, too.

Called by the club's president, Florentino Pérez, Ramos was swift to explain the gesture on Twitter. Ozil, he explained, is a good friend. He had long since promised the German that he would dedicate to him his first goal of the season and he had a feeling the goal was going to come so, taking advantage of Ozil's substitution, he chose to put his shirt on, ready to reveal it when he scored. He was fortunate that he did not; the fallout from a gesture made before 80,000 fans and in front of his coach would have been nuclear. It was pretty damaging anyway. Ramos, one of the club's captains, had chosen to show his support for Ozil – the man, with him, most singled out by Mourinho since results turned against the side. His explanation convinced few. You could almost hear him squirming. This was another glimpse of internal relations and it did not make happy viewing.

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