Barcelona and Spain star Aitana Bonmati has accused Cadena Cope of lying about the incidents of the previous week, when Spain took the field for the second half against Italy with just 10 players. Bonmati came off at half-time, but it appears there was some confusion, as only two of three substitutes came on, and before Tome realised, Italy had scored on their way to a 3-2 win.
Bonmati explained on Twitter afterwards that she had not felt well during the break, and asked Tome to take her off.
https://twitter.com/AitanaBonmati/status/172190663452565832?s=20
Cope reported on Tuesday night that Tome had asked Bonmati on three occasions whether she was OK, with the Catalan midfielder neglecting to respond on three occasions, before then saying, ‘fine, change me.’
Durante el descanso, no me sentí bien y le pedí al cuerpo técnico ser sustituida porque entendí que lo mejor para el equipo era que entrara otra compañera.
A partir de aquí, la situación no tiene más y lo importante es que el equipo consiguió la clasificación para la Final Four.
— Aitana Bonmatí Conca (@AitanaBonmati) December 2, 2023
Bonmati responded to their report saying ‘Keep lying, you do it very well.’ Yet the radio outlet did not back down.
“We are not lying, Aitana. We have given information that has been given by multiple sources. If you think you are wrong, you have an open invite to give us your version on the Cope microphones.”
✅ Nosotros no mentimos, Aitana. Hemos dado una información contrastada
🎙️ Si crees que estamos equivocados, tienes abiertos los micrófonos del #PartidazoCOPE por si quieres dar tu versión
👋🏽 Un saludo https://t.co/3CnIE5HfyR
— El Partidazo de COPE (@partidazocope) December 6, 2023
The reporting of the Spanish women’s team has been called into question on several occasions in the past two years. After 15 players went on strike, they were accused of lying about their motivations in order to get rid of manager Jorge Vilda, but after the Luis Rubiales scandal hit the headlines in August, their concerns about the RFEF culture as a whole were confirmed.
