The new coach De la Fuente has communicated to the captain that he will no longer be called and he greeted with a piqued and proud letter
February 23 – MADRID
Sergio Ramos says adiós to the national team, the “querida Roja” as he calls it in the piqued, proud and disappointed farewell letter written today after receiving a call from Luis de la Fuente, the national coach who succeeded Luis Enrique.
Golden cycle
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The defender is about to turn 37 but is playing regularly and reasonably well with PSG, and there has been talk of his possible return to the national team for some time. But no, the long and triumphant journey that began on March 26, 2005 and stopped on March 31, 2021, 16 years and 180 games later, today February 23, 2023 ends definitively. For Ramos a good dose of bitterness and the record of appearances and the three triumphs that changed the history of football Spain: Euro 2008, World Cup 2010, Euro 2012. The first two as a right full-back, the third as a centre-back.
The call
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“The time has come, the time to say goodbye to the national team, our beloved and exciting Roja – wrote Ramos -. This morning I received a call from the current selector who told me that he does not and will not bet on me, regardless of the level I will be able to show or how my sports career will continue ”.
Bitter taste
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“So sorry, it’s the end of a journey that I hoped would be longer and end with a better flavor, up to all the successes we’ve achieved with la Roja. Humbly, I believe this trajectory deserved to end for a decision personal or because my performance was not up to what our national team deserves, and not for a question of age or for other reasons that I have heard around without having listened to them directly”.
Modric and Messi
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“Because being more or less young does not represent an advantage or a defect, but only a temporal characteristic which is not necessarily linked to performance or ability. I look with admiration and envy at the various Modrics, Messi, Pepe… the essence, the tradition , values, meritocracy and justice in football. Unfortunately for me it won’t be like this, because football isn’t always fair and football is never just football.”
Sadness and pride
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“For all these reasons, I accept this with a sadness that I want to share with you, but also with my head held high and very grateful for all these years and for all your support. I carry with me indelible memories, all the titles for which we fought and that we all celebrated together and the great pride of being the Spanish player with the most caps for the national team. This shield, this shirt and this fan base, made up of all of you, have made me happy. I will continue to cheer for my country from home, with the emotion of the privileged person who was able to represent it 180 times. Heartfelt thanks to all of you who have always believed in me!”.
Last flag
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De la Fuente thus lowers the last great flag of Spain’s golden cycle, because Piqué retired in the autumn and had long since left La Roja and Busquets said goodbye to the national team after the World Cup in Qatar. And in any case, the two Catalans were not present at the 2008 European Championship. When Ramos mentions the “other things” that he has heard around, he refers to his personality, his presumed control over the national team, his influence. Luis Enrique had always kept it with him, until the physicist abandoned the former Madrid captain. Now that Sergio Ramos is back to health and on good technical levels, De la Fuente doesn’t want to have him with him, despite the fact that most of the Spanish press were sure of the opposite, and had heralded it with conviction only a few weeks ago. The coach goes his way, and closes that of La Roja to Sergio Ramos.
February 23 – 19:16
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