The year is 1902 and he has just seen the light of day. The ruler of Czechia is the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Francis Joseph I, Russia is ruled by Nicholas II, the British Kingdom by Edward VII and the President of America is Theodore Roosevelt. George Méliès's Trip to the Moon premieres in Paris, Cuba declares independence, the Boer Wars are over, the village of Vršovice is promoted to a town and Thomas Alva Edison patents an electric car.
That year, among others, the bandleader Karel Vacek, director Martin Frič, priest Josef Toufar, politician Viliam Široký, painter Toyen, actor Václav Trégl, writers Nazim Hikmet and John Steinbeck and aviator Charles Lindbergh were born. And one of the largest and most famous football clubs in the world Sociedad Madrid Foot-ball Club was founded in 1920 by the decision of Monarch Alfonso XIII. with the right to bear the designation of "royal". Real Madrid.
Immortal Santiago
Already in 1905 he won the first of his titles, the Spanish Cup Copa del Rey. The same year, seventeen-year-old Santiago Bernabéu - the first great club legend - played his first match. He never switched the jerseys and after the end of his football career became chairman of the club. He was the one who pushed for the construction of a new stadium. During his epoch, Real got its nickname “White Ballet” (Los Blancos). It came with the white jerseys, along with the trio of famous forwards: Ferenc Puskás, Raymond Kopa and Francisco Gento. So the club also has the nickname “Meringues” (Los Merengues) after the sweets made from a mixture of egg whites and sugar. And under the leadership of Bernabéu, also the first major transfer took place – in 1953 Alfredo di Stéfano joined the club.
Historical defense
When Santiago Bernabéu died in June 1978, the Real ‘tabernacle’ was renamed to Estadio Santiago Bernabéu in his honor. And the glorious ride has continued for decades, to this day. A list of all possible successes, memorable matches, great players and coaches would suffice to make a book. Let’s just mention, the year 2017, when Real became the first team in history to defend the victory in the Champions League. And as if that wasn't enough, they won this trophy for the third time in a row the year after.
Admired and hated
Even today, Real is full of great players. Goalkeeper Courtois, defenders Carvajal or Varane, midfielders Bale, Casemiro, Hazard, Modrič, Kroos or Valverde, attackers Benzema, Jovič, Vinícius Júnior ... Is there some famous name in that list missing? Perhaps the name of a person who is an integral part of the basic line-up and the most frequent player of the Spanish national team? Yes - Sergio Ramos, who deserves a separate passage. A tough defender, a real tough guy who Real fans adore and fans of other teams hate.
He has been in Real for 15 years, and celebrated his 34th birthday in March. He started as an right fullback, but lately he has mostly played as a stopper (he is one of the best in the world in both positions), in a few matches he also transformed into a defensive midfielder. Tireless hard worker, fighter, great header, specialist for direct kicks from a greater distance. He goes into every mach uncompromisingly, hard, clashes with him really hurt. After all, he is perhaps the most penalised footballer - he has collected almost 300 yellow cards and at the club level 26 red ones, so many fans (but also some opponents) consider him not only tough but also an insidious player. When Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah had to leave the pitch in the finals of the Champions League in 2018 after a clash with him, people demanded to additionally penalise him in a petition (they collected over half a million signatures). The memory of Ramos was also taken from the Champions League two years ago by the Pilsen midfielder Milan Havel in the form of a broken nose after an elbow strike. And there are a number of such cases. Simply a football player of world parameters, against whom to play, however, is often more a punishment than a reward.
Famous wedding
In addition to the art of football, Sergio Ramos recently attracted attention with other things. He married on 15th June last year. He married eight year older TV presenter Pilar Rubio, with whom he already had three sons: five-year-old Sergio junior, four-year-old Marc and one-year-old Alejandro. They were wedded in front of a painting of the Virgin Mary in the Royal Chapel of Seville Cathedral (Ramos has this painting tattooed on his right hand). There were 400 guests (but former Ramos’ teammate Ronaldo didn’t receive the invitation). Rubia's favorite band AC/DC were supposed to play for them. But they couldn’t make the date, so the Swedish rock old hands Europe took the audience by surprise. The whole wedding allegedly cost Sergio more than 2.5 million euros.
Titles and Achievements
The first championship title was won by Real Madrid in the 1931/32 season, and since then they’ve gained 32 more (the last one so far in the 2016/17 season). On the top of that, they’ve got 31 domestic cup trophies, they’ve won 13 times the European Champions Cup aka the Champions League, 2 European Leagues, 4 Super Cups, 3 Intercontinental Cups, 7 Club World Cups and 2 Latin Cups. And on 18th December 2000, FIFA voted Real Madrid the best football club of the 20th century.
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