reminder: no matter what happens, nothing we do in a champions league match will ever be more embarrassing than the time that mourinho had sergio and xabi both purposely get themselves sent off within five minutes of each other in order to clear their yellow cards before the next round.
yes, this really happened. november 23, 2010. real madrid vs. ajax.
in xabi’s case, mou was able to get the message through directly:
but for sergio, he had to employ a ridiculous game of telephone:
step 1: mou tells backup keeper jerzy dudek the plan
step 2: dudek goes to iker’s goal in the guise of “warming up” and passes along the message
step 3: iker pulls sergio aside and tells him what mou wants
(while making sure to get a bit of a cuddle at the same time, obviously)
you can watch video of the shenanigans here: 1, 2. the whole thing was utterly absurd, especially since madrid was already winning 4-0. needless to say, everyone involved got fined, although of course none of the players ever admitted they’d done anything wrong.
the mourinho era was a crazy time, kids.
(first four gifs made by albion_lass.)
intentional yellow cards against ajax in the group stages of the champions league: a sergio ramos tradition.
