Style or substance?

Last updated: 19th March 2008  

Style or substance?

Ramos: spoke to Revista

I'm sure the other players feel the same way, but for me personally I don't know whether I'd rather play really nice attractive football and lose or play badly and win.

Sergio Ramos
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Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos admits playing with style is as important to him as winning matches.

The 21-year-old Spanish international says Bernd Schuster's squad are experiencing a strange season because they are top of La Liga, even though some of their performances have not been as good as expected.

Speaking to Revista de la Liga, Ramos said he was desperate to provide entertainment for the fans - but says that might occasionally come at a cost.

He said: "It's hard to explain what's going on with the team because we've played very badly in recent games but won.

"Then it seems that when the team plays really well we don't win; that's caused a lot of doubts within the squad.

"I'm sure the other players feel the same way, but for me personally I don't know whether I'd rather play really nice attractive football and lose or play badly and win.

"The question is do we want the spectators to enjoy the match, but then sacrifice the team's main goal which is accumulating points and improving our position in the league table?"

Real lost to Deportivo at the weekend, but still boast a seven-point lead over nearest rivals Barcelona at the top of the table after Frank Rijkaard's team could only manage a draw against Almeria.

And Ramos says while the team are still searching for the perfect style of play, their overall goal is to deliver the title to the Beranbeu fans at the end of the season.

Comfortable

He said: "These days we as a team don't have a specific system of playing. The squad has had a lot of injuries lately but I think, bit by bit, we have somehow found ourselves in a comfortable position at the top of the table.

"We're still working hard to find a style of play that's more suited to us, the way we should be playing. That's one of the main things we're working on, but it's a long season and we'll always have good moments and bad moments.

"We're still top and leading La Liga. We were eight points above the second-placed team going into the weekend and we're working hard to achieve our only goal which is to win the league title."

The league title is the only silverware Real can win this season after Italian side Roma ended their Champions League hopes at the last-16 stage earlier this month.

Ramos admits he was disappointed by the defeat, but vowed to try and make up for it next season.

"It hit us hard because we were really excited by the Champions League," he continued.

"We thought we had a good chance of winning the competition, but at the moment we're not going through such a good time.

"In the match against Roma we had a lot of injuries, but that's football I guess. There's always next season of course, there's always revenge and that's what makes competitions like the Champions League so exciting for me.

"I'm still young and it's such a big competition. It's one of my dreams to win the Champions League."