Diego Armando Maradona believes Sergio Ramos should have been banned from football for two years after his challenge on Liverpool star Mohamed Salah.
The living football legend spoke to Sky Sports about the incident between Ramos and Salah in the Champions League final last May and believes Ramos got away with the incident only because he is a Real Madrid player. “Ramos should have been banned from football for two years,” said Maradona. “He intentionally injured Salah, UEFA didn’t take any action only because he is a Real Madrid player, if it had been a Barcelona player FIFA might have taken an action. Real Madrid is a very strong team in Europe.”
Salah was forced off the field only 30 minutes into the UEFA Champions League final after a heavy challenge from Ramos. The 32-year-old defender hooked the Egypt international by the arm and the latter landed on his left shoulder before leaving the field in tears to be replaced by Adam Lallana.
Liverpool appeared toothless without Salah and Real Madrid claimed their third consecutive title with a 3-1 victory. The Spanish defender sent Salah a message after the incident wishing him a healthy comeback and assured him it wasn’t intentional, yet the Egyptian King’s response was more sarcastic than heartfelt.
Following the injury, Salah was not fully fit in the World Cup for Egypt as the Pharaohs failed to grab any point in the competition, yet the 26-year-old netted two goals to equal the record of Egypt’s all time leading scorer AbdelRahman Fawzi.