Former Newcastle United, Malaga, Deportivo La Coruna and Spain forward Albert Luque is the latest to find himself caught up in the Luis Rubiales kiss scandal, after testifying in the sexual assault and coercion case against the former RFEF President.
Over the past two weeks, various members of the Spain squad, staff, and the management at the RFEF have been called to testify. That includes stars like Irene Paredes and Alexia Putellas, as well as Rubiales himself, who compared the happiness he was feeling at the time to the ending of the war in Ukraine.
Luque, who was Sporting Director for the Spain men’s team, has also been involved, and now faces accusations of coercion himself. That could bring jail time of 12-24 months, or a fine amounting to his income over that time scale.
El Mundo (via MD) have revealed that during his testimony, he was questioned on a text message sent to one of Jenni Hermoso’s friends, a so-called Ana. Her friend was attempting to act as a conduit of peace between Hermoso and the Federation.
“Good morning Ana. The truth is, I don’t even know what to tell you… I will answer you as Albert Luque, not as the Federation.”
“I, who have experienced it all… It seems so unfair, so unfair, what is being done to Luis, Jenni’s attitude seems so lacking in humanity to me… So little empathy and humanity… A simple gesture, which would result in removing the biggest s***storm of their life… Knowing that there is zero bad faith, jumping on the bandwagon to kill him. So unfair, when you told me that she was not going to speak out…”
Luque was sent to Ibiza, where the celebrating Spain squad were located, in order to persuade Hermoso to speak out in Rubiales’ favour. Hermoso did not speak to him, resulting in another message.
“Not speaking to the sporting director of the Spanish RFEF and a friend for two minutes…? I only wish that life to pays her back for what she is doing to him. She is paying for this unfairly, but she doesn’t deserve anything because of the little humanity she has… Everyone gets what they deserve over time. Talking to you [Ana]? Whenever you want.”
