The cracks in the women's team infect Barcelona

 

It was an open secret that Barcelona had something to do with the Spanish Federation. In the Barça Sports City, they did not like the goodbye of sports director Markel Zubizarreta - now in Las Rozas -, nor did they like the management of the locker room that directly affects coexistence in Sant Joan Despí. But what had started with complaints about the lowliness has ended with Barcelona coach Jonatan Giráldez publicly targeting the national team after Irene Paredes' injury. “I try to protect the players. We gave the information that it was not available, but they did the review at the RFEF and decided that it was ready to play. The loser is her and us,” said the Barça coach after the Basque central defender returned from the call with La Roja with a muscle injury and missed the match that was predicted as a return from her absence. A new front that reveals the Federation's operations, now impossible to conceal. “It was painted that it was Disney and it's Halloween,” says a source close to one of the soccer players.

The dance of names in the women's football section of the Spanish Federation does not silence the tension, previously with a common enemy, Jorge Vilda; now with discrepancies in the locker room. The most experienced players, who had already agreed to compromise with Vilda in exchange for the option of winning the World Cup, accepted Montse Tomé's continuing option last September. “"It's agreeable for them," says a Barça player, away from the public group. Also, Tomé was appreciative: Putellas, Irene Paredes and, at last, Hermoso, recaptured the captaincy (they never lost authority in the storage space), as they held before the open conflict with the federation, which ended with the '15' letter. in September 2022. There are other footballers, those that Barça label as “the most professional”, who continue without wanting to know anything about La Roja, such as Mapi León and Patri Guijarro.

In the middle is Aitana Bonmatí, without feeling with the veterans - a rift that has worsened since she won the Ballon d'Or -, distanced from Montse Tomé. There are those who understand in the Barcelona locker room that the 14 does not respect the authority of the coach, as well as those who think that Tomé "unnecessarily pointed out Aitana." In any case, the majority agrees that Tomé is “endorsed by veterans.” The choice of Markel Zubizarreta is no coincidence, then. The new sports director of the Spanish women's team knows perfectly the leaders of the Spanish locker room, with whom he met during his time in which he was baptized as “the architect” of a team that reached four of the last five finals. of the Champions League.

After winning the first Champions League in Gothenburg in 2021, Zubizarreta walked reflectively across the stadium field. “I was thinking about everything the players were going to ask of me,” he commented some time later. Nobody in Barcelona doubts Markel's work capacity – “he is the one who knows the most about women's football in Spain and one of the most in the world,” says a source from the Barça sports management – ​​nor his patience. in response to the players' requests. In fact, Gonzalo Rodríguez, former team manager of the Barça women's team - he was transferred to the men's team, but it lasted a short time - and loved by the players, was the first addition to the new structure of the Spanish team.