Spain captain Sergio Ramos has become the center of Twitter attention yet again as a spate of users have blamed the defender for a mysterious shoulder injury to England manager Gareth Southgate.
The England manager dislocated his shoulder while out running on Wednesday, two days after his Three Lions side snatched victory against Tunisia in their Group G opener at Volgograd Arena.
England boosted by the news that boss Gareth Southgate appears to have shrugged off a dislocated shoulder, discarded his sling, and will train as normal as #ENG step up preparations for their 2nd #WorldCup game v #PAN - Dele Alli the only absentee with a thigh strain #ThreeLions pic.twitter.com/bIHZbXFpyD
— David Ornstein (@bbcsport_david) June 21, 2018
Former international Southgate was not injured, however, celebrating captain Harry Kane's 91st-minute winner.
Twitter users were quick to raise suspicions about the whereabouts of Ramos, who was blamed for the injury during a tackle to Mohamed Salah in May’s Champions League final in Kiev between Liverpool and Real Madrid.
Gareth Southgate went running with Sergio Ramos?
— John Brewin (@JohnBrewin_) June 20, 2018
Hearing Southgate as done a Salah and dislocated his shoulder on a run. Get well soon Gaz. I blame Ramos. #Eng pic.twitter.com/IAyOqM3cEG
— Danny Armstrong (@DannyWArmstrong) June 20, 2018
How has Gareth Southgate dislocated his shoulder goin for a run?! He either runs like phoebe off friends or his running partner is Sergio Ramos 👀
— Jay Winsor (@Jaywinsor4) June 21, 2018
Southgate been out running with Ramos? Come on boss! We need that arm for the trophy... pic.twitter.com/nfZJ8C7HmF
— Bargain Booze (@BargainBooze) June 20, 2018
Other users took the opportunity to troll Liverpool fans, who reacted to the injury by not only blaming Ramos, but creating a petition to have the player retroactively punished for the tackle.
Apparently some Liverpool fans putting a petition together to have Ramos banned after Southgate dislocated his shoulder.
— Fellexit (@Mark_Champ20ns) June 20, 2018
More than half a million people have signed an online petition calling for FIFA to punish Sergio Ramos for “intentionally hurting Gareth Southgate”. https://t.co/OYAIZwnLi3
— Vishnu Jayashankar (@vishnufutblog) June 20, 2018
Ramos helped Spain to a 1-0 win over Iran in Kazan Arena on Wednesday, which puts them level on points at the top of Group B with Portugal, who beat Morocco by the same scoreline in Moscow prior to that match. Salah's Egypt were eliminated whent they lost 3-1 to hosts Russia in St. Petersburg on Tuesday.