I like to compete in anything, says Ramos on his documentary

If you want any indication of the sort of person Sergio Ramos is, then the story of how he met his wife should give you a hint.

Pilar Rubio, his spouse of nine years, is an exceptionally famous TV personality in Spain. Ramos, clearly a fan even before he met her, dreamt about her for three nights in a row and after consulting the women in his family, decided to message her.

It worked. Most of what Ramos does seems to.

He's here in central London to promote his new documentary series on Amazon Prime, El Corazon de Sergio Ramos (The heart of Sergio Ramos). 

Ramos is a man who wears his heart on his sleeve, or in this case, etched on the chest of the £640 Prada shirt he's wearing.

It's hard to square the calm man in this room at the Soho Hotel with the player who sometimes seems to need his own personal referee, but whether he's sliding into a tackle or his future wife's DMs, he insists he's the same person: 'I like to compete in anything I do in my life, from when I wake up until I go to bed. Any given game, even with my kids. I like to win, that's how I am.'

Amazon's documentary on Ramos begins with bruising defeats and there's a sense of irony about the cameras missing out on the trophy-laden three years that came before.

Ramos has no qualms though and is keen to show the hard part of being a footballer: 'You never know when the best time is to film a documentary. Yes, if I had known I maybe would have started filming it three years ago.

'I think it is good to see the suffering and the pain behind being a football player and also the effort and sacrifice that entails having this kind of career.

'I think they will see a side of me that can be more moving, they can feel more pureness and it can be more entertaining than if it was just a successful part.'

While Ramos is keen for a new side of him to come across in the documentary, he is not trying to convince those who do not like him as a player that they are wrong. 

Asked about changing their minds, he replied: 'No way.

'One of the reasons why I agreed on making this is to leave some kind of legacy, maybe for a kid who has a dream in life – not necessarily being a football player – and also for the people who love me, for my fans, to give them a different version of myself, so they can see my passion, my family, that side of my life. It's some kind of way of saying thank you to them.

'And for the people who are critical of what I do, maybe this will give them more information to have a proper judgement.'