Sterling and Gomez are far from the first players to have been involved in a contretemps with a teammate on national duty
Most of the time their tongues were wedged in their cheeks, but there were moments when daggers were drawn — and within the Spanish national team there were genuine concerns about the relationship between Gerard Piqué and Sergio Ramos. Rivals for their clubs, they were partners for their country. Except that a lot of the time people questioned whether
Spain was Piqué’s country, and that dimension always lingered in discussions of the players’ relationship. It was driven of course by the often bitter battle between their clubs, with Piqué more than prepared to attack Madrid and that tension sometimes taken to the national team. At least — and this is the key — by the comically partisan media. This was the battle for years, an obsession. Not that they ever came to blows, or even close. Often it was a game. Ramos summed it up when he responded to one Piqué remark by saying: “Coming from Iniesta, it would annoy you, but it’s Piqué and we all know it’s part of the show with him.”After one game Pique claimed that “in the directors box at the Bernabéu sit the people who pull the strings in this country”. To which Ramos replied: “They have more to answer there than us”. When Ramos was sent off in a clásico, he walked past Piqué and said: “Go on, keep talking.” Afterwards Piqué insisted it was a “clear red, but they’re so used to referees letting them get away with it”. Very different characters, if perhaps not quite as different as they would like to think, they were actually a brilliant partnership and they got on better than many people liked to imagine. One day when Spain wore white, like
Real Madrid, Ramos sidled up to Piqué and said: “White looks so good on you that you’re lost for words.” Sid Lowe