BarcelonaThe dressing room of the Spanish national team is about to explode. The tension reached its peak this Monday when the captains called Rubiales to ask him for immediate changes after the disaster at the Eurocopa, but the Federation, far from meeting their demands, pointed out the captains as instigators of ‘a riot and ratified the coach’s continuity until at least 2024. The relationship between the players and the coach is almost non-existent and, in addition, there is some discomfort among the footballers themselves, since some have got off the wagon when they saw that things were getting complicated, and they left the captains as the head of the Turk.
It all started with a call from the three captains – Irene Paredes, Alexia Putellas and Patri Guijarro – to Rubiales on behalf of the squad. In this conversation, the footballers expressed their dissatisfaction with the current situation of the national team and argued that “there are things that are not working and therefore changes should be made”. According to ARA, Vilda’s dismissal was not called for in this conversation, as the captains started from the position that “they are nobody to kick anybody out”. The painful disappointment of the European Cup already stirred the waters of a dressing room that has seen things not working for some time during the flight back to Madrid. These conversations, however, remained at the personal level and in a small committee, and an agreement was never reached to make a joint action, as it did happen at the beginning of this week.
When the news broke in the press, the information that was leaked was not quite this: Jorge Vilda was the victim of this call stating that his dismissal had been requested. From there, the Federation went to the information step to ratify the figure of the coach, renewed before the Eurocopa was contested and strongly criticized after seeing the role played by the state team in the continental tournament. Disagreement in the dressing room is total. The players do not share the evaluations of the coach, nor their approaches to the match nor the management of the calls. The workload, they think, is poorly planned and the management of minutes is not done in an intelligent and respectful way, taking into account the well-being of the footballers – an argument defended by Barça on several occasions, since each call-up with the Spanish national team it ended up being a new injury for a Blaugrana player.
Following the call and the leak to the press, the entire team was summoned to a meeting with thestaff which lasted more than three hours. Vilda asked for an explanation and asked “what things they didn’t like, that he would change”, sources close to the dressing room told ARA. The conversation was long and with moments of tension, but no understanding was reached, since confidence in the coach is null for a large part of the dressing room the Red. In addition to the group meeting, Vilda wanted to meet individually and privately with each of the players on the national team. “There are players who came out crying from these meetings, because of pressure and because of how the talks went. They left very distressed and with anxiety”, sources familiar with the facts explain to the ARA.
With this turbulent situation, relationships within the dressing room have been affected. Irene Paredes, first captain of the national team, has been singled out, who has seen how some of her teammates have backed away and left her as the instigator of a riot. This afternoon, at 5.45 p.m., the coach and the three captains present at the call – Paredes, Patri Guijarro and Jenni Hermoso – will appear in a press conference to give their version of events. Vilda, however, went ahead and spoke to TVE. “It’s a strange situation. It’s a feeling of disappointment. The dressing room codes have been transgressed. I have the strength to continue. The players want to play and that reassures me, but the focus is not on the appearance sport”, said the coach.
