Sergio Ramos is somewhat of a master in the dark magic of football.
You can be quite certain that the Real Madrid star is among the most skilled in the business when it comes to basic sneakiness in the purpose of winning matches by whatever means necessary.
Ramos is not really hesitant to get his hands dirty in the pursuit of triumph, from winding up Barca defenders at every possibility to injuring Mohamad Salah in the 2018 Champions League final.
Image Credit: Reuters photoRamos' Champions League Dark Arts
Despite the fact that Ramos' fondness for s***housery had been working out for almost of the part, there have been circumstances when the PSG player has been on the receiving side of karma.
Indeed, one of Ramos' latest dances with the dark arts resulted in his suspension by UEFA, and it stays, in our view, one of the most remarkable instances in Champions League era.
Imagine the 2018/19 season, when Los Blancos are preparing to deal with life with the lack of Cristiano Ronaldo, but are still slowly developing in Europe's highest tournament.
The holders were drew versus Ajax in the round of Sixteen and appeared to be controlling the two-legged tie until they scored a late goal to go 2-1 up at the Johan Cruyff Arena.
Image credit: PABanned for 'intentionally' receiving a yellow card
Goals by Marco Asensio and Karim Benzema, each sides of a Hakim Ziyech strike, undoubtedly gave Ramos hope that his team would advance to the quarter-finals.
And we state that because, as per the BBC, UEFA deemed the Real Madrid leader guilty of "obviously getting a yellow card on intention" in the 89th minute for a tackle on Kasper Dolberg.
Ramos was given a two-game ban after appearing to confess to the reporters after the match that the booking was intentional, claiming he would "be dishonest when I said I didn't pressure [the booking].
Image Credit: 90min/PAWhat was Ramos hoping to accomplish?
Okay, that's all well and fine, but why would Ramos like to have a yellow card in the first place?
The thinking was that Ramos would instead grab his yellow card ban there and then miss the second leg of a possibly more significant match later on.
Nonetheless, the idea to reach the quarter-finals with a clear slate was made irrelevant by the resulting two-match punishment and, well, the reality that Real Madrid did not even reach for the final 8.
Image: PAAfcourse, that's true, as if to start raising yet another finger to Ramos' dark arts.
Ajax carried off one of the all-time best Champions League performances with an unforgettable 4-1 victory at the Bernabeu.
Perhaps experts of the dark arts aren't always able to draw the rabbit out of the hat.
Featured Image Credit: givemesport/PA Images