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Spain’s World Cup hero Olga Carmona has been left angry by the team’s victory being overshadowed by the controversy surrounding Luis Rubiales.
The former president of the Spanish football federation (RFEF) kissed Jenni Hermoso on the lips as the players were being handed winners’ medals following their 1-0 win against England in the final.
The incident continues to generate headlines as Rubiales initially refused to resign from his role despite pressure to do so, while he insisted that the kiss was consensual despite Hermoso stating otherwise.
The Spain star has filed a legal complaint against Rubiales and the former president will have to testify before a court on Friday.
Due to the attention being paid to the controversy, Spain’s first Women’s World Cup success has hardly been celebrated, much to the frustration of Carmona, who scored the winning goal in the final.
“It is obviously sad that we achieved something historic, something that really takes a lot of work to achieve and that it was overshadowed because of what we all know happened,” Carmona said on Spanish talk show El Hormiguero.
“Yes, it does make me angry and I think that hopefully from now they’ll talk about how we are world champions.”
The 23-year-old said she has not spoken to Hermoso since the incident, saying: “We do have a close relationship, but I understand what she’s going through, so I haven’t talked to her. I understand that it’s a difficult situation. No one likes getting attention for having something like that happen.”
Rubiales was suspended by FIFA for 90 days before he eventually stepped down from his role on Sunday, while women’s coach Jorge Vilda was sacked.
A total of 81 players signed a declaration that they would boycott the national team until changes were made at the RFEF.
However, Carmona refused to say she would return to the squad now that Rubiales has stepped down.
“Well, there’s been more than Rubiales’ resignation, there’s also been other changes, we have a new coach,” Carmona said.
“First of all, we have to wait for the call list and see if I’m on it or not and see what happens from there. Rubiales’ resignation is still very recent, it only happened last night, and so we have to discuss as a group and see what happens.”