Spain and Real Madrid star Athenea del Castillo has responded to claims that she has been treated in a hostile manner by her teammates, after taking a different stance to the majority of the Spain squad on their latest call-up.
39 players signed a document that declared they would not return to Spain duty unless five demands for changes were met, but two players from the World Cup-winning squad did not, Athenea and Claudia Zornoza.
On Thursday night, El Chiringuito reported that Athenea was having a bad time, after the rest of the Spain squad had given her a hostile reputation and accused her of being a traitor.
On Friday morning, Athenea released a statement on Twitter, tagging El Chiringuito in it.
“In reference to the comments made about me last night on the programme ‘El Chiringuito’, I want to make the following clear.
- None of the players of the national team have called me a ‘traitor’
- At the time, I took a difference stance to the majority of my colleagues. I made this clear to them at the time and I made it public via a statement in which I made my opinion clear.
- Beyond that declaration, neither myself nor anyone from my circle of trust has spoken about this situation with anybody outside of it.
- For this reason, I would like to ask that people do not speculate on my mental state, nor anything to do with it.
- I sincerely appreciate the numerous gestures of support and love that I have received.”
On Thursday, Irene Paredes and Alexia Putellas gave a press conference ahead of their match against Sweden, stating that they were fighting decades of systemic discrimination. They said they felt a duty to fight for better conditions for the future generations, but ‘did not see a light at the end of the tunnel.