Felipe Melo has quipped that he is deliberately channelling Sergio Ramos in the card-collecting stakes as it would appear that amassing red and yellow cards by the bucket-load is a precursor to footballing domination.
The infamously ill-disciplined Brazilian midfielder was shown his 23rd caution of the calendar year at the weekend after going into the book during the 37th minute of Palmeiras’ 3-1 win over Cruzeiro on Sunday.
Felipe Melo recebeu hoje o 11º cartão amarelo dele no Brasileirão. Depois do jogo, o volante afirmou que “não está aqui para agradar”, mas pediu justiça ao analisarem os cartões dele pic.twitter.com/EcUCy6WLMM
— globoesportecom (@globoesportecom) 30 September 2018
The self-styled ‘mad dog’ managed to reign it in for the remainder of the tie, but still ended the evening having picked up 11 bookings and one red card in his last 20 appearances.
Speaking to reporters after the game, Melo claimed it was a deliberate ploy.
I wanted to be like Sergio Ramos, who gets yellow card, yellow card, yellow card, yellow card and then wins the Champions League and the World Cup.
Ramos, for the record, has a career tally of 24 reds to his name (including a record 19 reds in La Liga) as well as hundreds of bookings garnered hither and thither.
However, if anybody can produce a late spurt to take the Shithouse Shield, it’s old ‘Foam-At-The-Mouth Felipe’.
Photo: Press Association