France falls in love with Sergio Ramos after his PSG debut
He had to wait longer than he would have liked, but Sergio Ramos finally made his Paris Saint-Germain debut over the weekend in their 3-1 win over Saint-Etienne at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard.
Lionel Messi claimed a hat-trick of assists in the victory and Neymar was forced off with a bad injury, but a lot of the post-match focus was on the 35-year-old Spaniard.
Ramos' last competitive game came 207 days earlier for Real Madrid against Chelsea, and a lot of doubt had surrounded him in the build-up to his PSG debut. But the defender impressed, and the majority of the French media were happy to see him make his bow.
"Everything looks easy with his experience," Le Parisien wrote.
Ramos played 90 minutes alongside Marquinhos at the heart of PSG's defence, winning five of his seven duels and completing 94.1 percent of the passes he attempted. Of the nine long passes he tried, seven were accurate.
"With Danilo [Pereira] and [Idrissa] Gueye in the middle they could have had problems creating, but Ramos showed character on the ball and he read space very well to find his teammates," L'Equipe said.
Ramos on his PSG debut
Ramos himself was expectedly delighted to have gotten up and running in France, ending his long wait to debut.
"Getting back to playing and feeling like a football is emotional and very positive," Ramos said after the game. "Especially to get three points.
"I really wanted to get back and start contributing."
The defender could now become a key part of Mauricio Pochettino's side, and some French media outlets are suggesting that the coach could look to play Ramos in a three-man backline alongside Marquinhos and Presnel Kimpembe.
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