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Luis Rubiales, the president of Spain's FA, has defended his kiss with World Cup-winning star Jenni Hermoso as just a show of affection despite facing backlash for his actions after the final against England
RFEF president Luis Rubiales has defended his actions after the Women’s World Cup final when he kissed a member of the Spanish women’s national team on the lips.
Spain World Cup star reacts to controversial kiss
Jenni Hermoso, who missed a penalty during the 1-0 win over England in the final of the Women’s World Cup, was relieved to see her team come out victorious despite her miss and was congratulated after the match by Rubiales with a controversial kiss on the lips.
The former Barcelona midfielder spoke immediately after the incident saying, “What am I supposed to do? Eh, but I didn’t like it, but later tried to play off the incident by saying, “It was a mutual gesture, totally spontaneous due to the immense joy that winning a World Cup brings.
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“The president and I have a great relationship, his behaviour with all of us has been outstanding, and it was a natural gesture of affection and gratitude.”
RFEF president and Spanish Government official at loggerheads over kiss
Rubiales has also spoken about the incident and blamed “idiots” for overstating the significance of the kiss, which he claimed was just a show of affection between both parties.
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He told Radio Marca, “The kiss with Jenni? Idiots are everywhere. When two people have a show of affection without any significance, you don’t have to pay attention to idiocy.”
“We are champions, and I’ll focus on that.”
Despite Rubiales’ claims that only idiots would see a problem with his gesture towards Hermoso, Spain‘s Minister for Culture and Sports, Miquel Iceta, has criticised the RFEF president and called for an explanation and apology.
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Iceta was quoted by Dario AS saying, “We all have to be especially careful in our attitudes and our actions. I think it’s unacceptable to kiss a player on the lips to congratulate her and, as I’ve seen it, because I didn’t see it live, but I saw it later on the social networks, it has to be said.
“As such, from that point of view, what I would like is to hear the president’s explanations and also for him to apologise, because probably when he sees the images he will realise something which perhaps at the time he did not have in mind.”
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The aftermath of Spain’s World Cup win has been dogged by controversy, with the controversial kiss and a controversial post about manager Jorge Vilda taking the shine off La Roja’s monumental achievement.
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