Never the flashiest or the most obviously skilled or even the most universally loved of our players — remember the halcyon days of the Ramires-Lampard (i.e. Rampard) central midfield? — Ramires has quietly, though never without an abundance of effort and fouls committed, accumulated well over 200 appearances for Chelsea over the past 5+ seasons. He also has 35 goals for the club, many of them highlight or even award-worthy, like his back-to-back efforts in 2011 (against Manchester City) and 2012 (against Barcelona). The one yesterday was one to add to the scrapbook as well, a bolt out of the blue, lashed into the top corner. Unsaveable.
That goal was for you, my boy!!! O gol foi pra você meu filho!! Let's keep on fighting until the end! #Bruno #CFC pic.twitter.com/jZWbIfVzqd
— Ramires (@Rami7oficial) September 26, 2015
You can't go wrong quoting a bit of Queen to go along with your dedication.
Ramires's goal ignited the Chelsea comeback on Tyneside. The midfielder may only have had 18 touches, according to WhoScored, but one of those was a goal, another one was almost an assist that Falcao squandered with an offside and a terrible finish, and yet another was almost the winning goal that was saved excellently by Tim Krul. He even had an impact with one of his non-touches, when he was the first runner on the Willian free kick that stranded the goalkeeper. It's not Lewandowski, but it's not bad for 18+ minutes of work.
And what were the secret instructions from Mourinho that drove Ramires, who apparently is one of the few players on the team who's capable of a decent long range effort, to this game-changing performance?
"The manager told me to try my best."
"He said to come in and try to score a goal or create a goal."
-Ramires; post-match interviews (Sky; Chelsea FC)
See, football management is easy!