What’s the story?
Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos, who scored two goals against Napoli was seen doing the now famous ‘call me’ celebration after his goal. When asked after the game against Napoli if Lionel Messi was the inspiration to the celebration, he was quick to point out that he has already beaten Lionel Messi to the ‘call me’ celebration at the Camp Nou. “I made the gesture before Leo”, he said, “I did it at the Camp Nou”.
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In case you didn’t know..
Lionel Messi after his goal against Celta Vigo in the La Liga gestured to the stands with his hand, as if asking someone to call him. It caused quite the stir on social media and among the Barcelona faithful as the speculation was that the ‘call me’ gesture was to the Barcelona board about his present contract situation.
Later on, in an interview, Lionel Messi clarified that the gesture was actually to his nephew who had tried calling the Barcelona superstar all day and was unable to reach him.
The Heart of the matter
This was mostly friendly banter by Sergio Ramos, who was in high spirits after the game against Napoli. The Real Madrid captain scored two goals to lead his side to a 3-1 second leg win against the Italian side, who eventually lost 6-2 on aggregate.
Barcelona play their Champions League game tonight against Paris Saint-Germain after losing the first leg 4-0, and Ramos admitted that he would “sleep better” if Barcelona were knocked out at this stage in the Champions League.
Parallels from history
Barcelona and Real Madrid players have been previously scripted at taking slight digs at one another at various points. Most recently, Gerard Pique criticised the refereeing during a game where Real Madrid got the rub of the green (against Villarreal), to which Ramos took an exception and replied quite angrily.
Jordi Alba also took a dig at the Madrid giants when they were knocked out of the Copa Del Rey this season, “As a Barcelona fan I always want Madrid to lose. There are times when teams don't qualify and they belittle the competition. It's an excuse.”
So this is nothing new, and will not be the last time we see them taking a dig at one another.
Sportskeeda’s Take
The ‘call me’ celebration is quite common in football, immortalized by perhaps Barcelona legend Ronaldinho. The fact that Lionel Messi did a flamboyant celebration, it obviously made the columns.
The reason behind Ramos’ celebration is still unknown, however, he was probably being a bit naughty doing it right after Leo Messi did it last weekend. But, football is about your team versus mine, and there is no harm in a bit of banter.
