Former Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti has admitted that Bernabeu favourite Sergio Ramos "could easily have been a forward" and even joked with the player that he would pick him to play up front in games.
Ramos has continued to steal headlines with famous goals this season and now has 76 to his name in total for club and country. It's a remarkable record for a defender and is actually more than Barcelona midfielder Andres Iniesta has managed in his career to date.
"He continues to score miraculous goals," Ancelotti said of Ramos to AS.
"He does it because he has quality in front of goal. In fact, he could easily have been a forward," the Italian added.
"I sometimes joked with him, telling him I was going to pick him at centre-forward. That personality and character that he has are really important to teams."
Ramos has scored dramatic late goals in each of his last two La Liga games, against Barcelona and Deportivo La Coruna, but the most famous one remains the equaliser that sent the 2014 Champions League final to extra-time and provided the platform for Real's Decima.
"I think that final was my best moment at Real Madrid," Ancelotti commented.
"We won the most important trophy that we'd set ourselves as an objective. We'd done really well until December, then we had problems with injured players, but fortunately we were able to lift the Champions League."
Ramos also scored in last season's Champions League final, breaking the deadlock early in the gamebefore Los Blancos eventually claimed victory in a tense penalty shootout.
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