Last Update: February 23, 2023, 23:36 IST
Sergio Ramos with the trophies he won for Spain (Twitter)
Sergio Ramos won the 2010 World Cup and the 2008 and 2012 European Championships with La Rosa, last played for Spain in March 2021
Sergio Ramos retired from international duty with Spain on Thursday after new coach Luis de la Fuente said he did not trust him.
The Paris Saint-Germain defender who won the 2010 title World Cup and the 2008 and 2012 European Championships with La Rosa, last played for Spain in March 2021.
Ramos, who turned 37 in March, published an open letter on social media in which he indicated he had been coerced by the new coach.
Ramos wrote, “The time has come, time to say goodbye to the national team, our beloved and exciting Rosa.”
“This morning I got a call from the current coach who told me that he doesn’t trust me and won’t, no matter what level I show or how I continue my career.
“With great sadness, this is the end of a journey that I hoped would be long and that would end with a better taste in my mouth, given all the successes we’ve had with our Rosas.”
Ramos played 180 times for Spain, more appearances than any other player in the country’s history.
Despite recovering from injury and building form with PSG Luis Enrique did not call him up for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
De la Fuente replaced Luis Enrique in December after Spain’s World Cup exit in the last 16 against Morocco.
Spain’s next matches are qualifiers for Euro 2024 against Norway and Scotland in March.
“I humbly admit that this career deserved to end because of a personal decision or because my performance was not worthy of our national team, but not because of my age or other reasons that I have realized without listening to them,” Ramos said. to continue.
The defender highlighted other experienced players still thriving, including PSG teammate Lionel Messi, who won the World Cup with Argentina last year at 35.
“Since being young or less young is not a virtue or a defect, it is simply a temporary characteristic that is not necessarily related to performance or ability,” Ramos said.
He mentioned Messi and two former Real Madrid team-mates, Luka Modric of Croatia, 37, and Pepe, 39, of Portugal, who all played at the World Cup.
“I look with admiration and envy at Modric, Messi, Pepe… the essence, tradition, values, merit and justice in football.
“Unfortunately that won’t be the case for me, because football isn’t always fair and football is never just football.”
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)