No Doubt He’ll Stay – Zidane Confident Iconic $31M Defender Won’t Leave Real Madrid

Real Madrid head coach Zinedine Zidane said he is confident Sergio Ramos will not leave the La Liga giants after the skipper scored his 100th goal for Los Blancos Wednesday. Ramos achieved the milestone during Real Madrid’s 3-2 win over Inter Milan in their 2020-21 Champions League clash.

Ramos’ landmark goal came on the same day the Real Madrid captain was linked with a move to Juventus, but Zidane said he has "no doubt" that Ramos will stay at Santiago Bernabeu.

"I have no doubt that he will stay. He is our leader and of course, we love him forever," Zidane said at the post-match press conference.

Ramos moved from Seville to Real Madrid for a fee of $31 million in 2005 and the 34-year-old defender made his 500th La Liga appearance last weekend during his side’s 4-1 win over Huesca.

Out of his 100 goals, 55 have come via headers, including the latest one against Inter Milan.

"We knew from what [Samir] Handanovic said that they had been studying our corner deliveries with Toni [Kroos] finding me. But the more we can continue to surprise our rivals, the better. They know what they are doing, they have a very defined philosophy and they made the most of that. It's a good result, and three points in a group that had started to look complicated for us," Ramos was quoted by Goal, as saying.

Reacting to his landmark of 100 for Real Madrid, Ramos added, "It's not bad, and it is nice that it is recognized. It's not a figure which defenders usually get to. Hopefully, there'll be many more."

Karim Benzema, who has been Real Madrid’s prolific scorer for many years now, opened the scoring Wednesday and eight minutes later, Ramos’ header put Real Madrid 2-0 up in the first half at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano.

The tourists recovered via goals from Lautaro Martinez and Ivan Perisic but Rodrygo regained Real Madrid's lead in the 80th minute after being set up by fellow substitute Vinicius Junior. Rodrygo’s goal turned out to be the winner as Real Madrid finally secured the first win of their 2020-21 Champions League campaign.