Since that February 22nd, many things have happened at Rayados, where Ramos shares the locker room with old acquaintances like Sergio Canales, Oliver Torres, and Lucas Ocampos. Demichelis is no longer the coach, now Domènec Torrent is in charge, a Catalan coach who was Pep Guardiola's assistant for years at Barcelona and Manchester City. "What I have done previously and what Sergio Ramos has done is not useful. We start from scratch. But he is a top player worldwide. I have faced him many times, and everyone knows he is a leader, a professional player who pushes his teammates in a good way," explained the coach at his presentation. "We'll see," Ramos himself responded cautiously when asked.
The team has not had a good season, eliminated in the CONCACAF Champions League round of 16 and far from the best in the national Apertura and Clausura, but Ramos has performed. He has scored four goals, kept the captain's armband, which he will also wear tonight at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, and even received a red card. A matter of traditions.
His secret takes him back to his great passion: horses. "He is a thoroughbred," they describe him in Monterrey, where he recently showed up unexpectedly and voluntarily for training before the Club World Cup. The decision surprised at El Barrial facilities, but the Camas native wanted personalized training sessions before the club's designated return date from vacation. "That example is contagious," they say at the team.
Since leaving Sevilla at the end of the 2023-24 season, he has trained as if he were on a team, with morning and afternoon gym sessions with the ball. No rest, waiting for the best opportunity and investing thousands of euros in people and tools to help him stay in top shape: treatment with physiotherapists, constrast baths between cold and hot, Turkish bath, sauna, hyperbaric chamber... Things he has repeated day after day during his times in Madrid, Paris, and Sevilla. He has even added the famous red light that Marcos Llorente has popularized, a therapeutic technique used to stimulate cells and promote greater tissue regeneration.
Ramos, who has already won it all, does not yet see the end of his career and wants to stretch his football career as much as possible, but Monterrey has been the first risk for him, after logical decisions like signing for Real Madrid, then moving to Paris and returning to Sevilla to reconcile with the Sánchez Pizjuán. The case of Mexico, encouraged by the Club World Cup, the culture, and lifestyle, has been his first uncomfortable decision.
"I am lucky to have spent many years in Madrid, then in Paris and Sevilla, and it was an important step, a huge change in my life. And I like challenges and conquering new things," he said upon arriving at Rayados.
But for now, he is happy. His family has not settled in the country due to school year difficulties, although they have visited him several times. He lives in a residential area with high security, logical in a city of that caliber that almost requires everyone with a certain economic level to drive in an armored car. He is close to the sports city, avoids walking, something he could not do in Madrid or Paris, and when he goes to the field as a spectator, several security members surround him because there is no private corridor to access the box, and people surround him to talk to him, ask for photos, or simply touch him.
"Sergio is a unique case, a lab specimen. He maintains a physiology rarely seen. His muscle mass, strength, intensity, and speed are top-notch, but I highlight his ambition and competitive character," said Demichelis about him. Upon arriving in Los Angeles, Ramos gave an interview to FIFA where he stated that he wants to end his last years of football "winning." "The team has the ability to play these types of competitions, and my competitive nature likes it," he explained, always as captain. "Leaders are decided by the groups, but due to my character, I have always had that ability to pull the cart when the team needs it, to advise also due to my experience. I feel good about it," he concluded. Inter Milan, River Plate, and Urawa Red Diamonds await him in the Club World Cup.