Two players abandon Spanish national team amid Jenni Hermoso's controversy with Luis Rubiales

After winning the Women’s World Cup, the Spanish national team had no time to celebrate as a huge controversy sparked when Luis Rubiales gave a controversial kiss to Jenni Hermoso.

As a consequence, Rubiales has been suspended by FIFA and faces legal charges in Spain. Furthermore, Jorge Vilda was fired as coach and Montse Tome took over.

Nevertheless, in a shocking turn of events, Tome left Hermoso out of the Nations League to ‘protect’ her and many players were not happy with that situation. Alexia Putellas has been one of them. Now, two big names have decided to leave the squad.

Mapi Leon and Patri Guijarro leave the Spanish national team

Mapi Leon and Patri Guijarro left the Spanish national team claiming that they were not in the best mental condition to face the next matches of the Nations League. Spain will play against Sweden this Friday and Switzerland on Tuesday.

Following a meeting that concluded early this morning, it was officially announced that 21 out of the 23 players remained in the national team’s squad with only two players leaving. However, at that moment, it was not disclosed which players were leaving. Now, Leon and Guijarro confirmed it.

These were the reasons which led to the decision explained by Mapi. “It is a reality that the situation for Patri and me is different from that of the rest of our colleagues. It hasn’t been the way or the timing to return.”

It’s important to remember that Mapi Leon was one of the few players who didn’t play at the 2023 Women’s World Cup as she was clearly against bad treatment and old training methods by former coach, Jorge Vilda. That complicated the current situation.

“We’re not in a position to say, ‘No, you come back now.’ This is a process. We are pleased because changes are taking place; changes are happening gradually, and we are fully supporting our colleagues in this, as we have been doing from the outside all this time.”