Do we like them?

Do we like Sergio Ramos?

Our score: 7 out of 10. No harmful words or company turned up, and there's some real charity work, set against a tax fine and a long run of on-pitch flare-ups.

Sergio Ramos is the Spanish centre-back who built his name at Real Madrid and who, by Sky Sports' 2018 count, had been sent off a record 19 times in La Liga. That tells you most of it: he's a hard-nosed winner who plays right on the edge. He was still playing in Mexico for Monterrey in 2025.

The on-pitch dramas are the stuff of legend. In the 2018 Champions League final his clash with Mo Salah ended Salah's game early with a shoulder injury, and he then mocked Liverpool's complaints with a line about Roberto Firmino catching a cold from a drop of sweat. In 2017 he celebrated a Panenka penalty in front of Sevilla's home fans, then apologised, saying it wasn't meant as an insult.

Off the pitch, Spanish tax authorities fined him one million euros over irregularities in his image rights for 2012 to 2014, according to El Mundo. Ramos said he would appeal, blamed a change in the tax agency's criteria and said he had already paid the settlement. He called it “an administrative fine, not a criminal penalty.” I couldn't find how the appeal ended.

In 2018 Der Spiegel alleged that Ramos failed to declare a medication before the 2017 Champions League final. He called the claim a lie meant to damage his reputation and said he would take legal action. Real Madrid said he had never breached anti-doping rules. I found no finding against him, so it stays an allegation he denies.

On the harm test, there's honestly very little to report. Nothing in what I read has him saying anything about LGBTQ+ people, women, migrants, vaccines or the climate, and no sign of a slide into grievance or conspiracy theories. He also isn't tied to any dodgy company that I could find. Coverage of him is almost all football, so that's a thin record rather than a deep one.