New chapter in the Piqué audio scandal: leaked a message from Sergio Ramos about a Spanish football conflict

The audio scandal is shaking the foundations of Spanish football in recent days. The leak of dialogues between defender Gerard Pique and President of the Spanish Federation Luis Rubiales placed both personalities in an uncomfortable position on the sports map. The Barcelona man intertwined his roles as businessman and player in his close relationship with the leader of the ball in his country.

After meeting three editions of audios dealing with different topics ranging from business to purely sports situations, the newspaper El Confidencial once again shared another exchange between Pique and Rubiales with Sergio Ramos as an involuntary involved.

In the new version of messages it was possible to read what Diario Marca described as a “betrayal” by Pique of his teammate from the Spanish national team Ramos: “Rubi, this is a message that Sergio Ramos sent me. Keep it for yourself. Please keep it confidential.”

It is revealed that the 36-year-old defender contacted his Real Madrid colleague to try to generate a movement against David Aganzo, at the head of the Association of Spanish Footballers (AFE) — the players' union — since 2017 when Luis Rubiales left his chair to leave the RFEF.

The audios correspond to May 2020, when Ramos was still the captain of Merengue. “I know the relationship that Rubi and Aganzo have had and they were close brothers, come on, but everywhere together and so on. And what happens? That when Rubi ran for the presidency of the Federation, then the other (Aganzo) put him in the AFE. What's going on? That each one, in the end, when he sees himself in charge, in good office, and with power, because he wants to rule in his own way. What's going on? That Rubi had three or four there in the AFE who told him everything, even though Aganzo was president. So he took them and threw them out. From then on, the war began and because he wants to charge it, because Rubi wants to rule in the Federation and the AFE”, Ramos portrays in the first audio broadcast by journalists Alejandro Requeijo and José María Olmo.

The emblematic player summarizes what is happening at the political level in a conflict that had Rubiales and Aganzo on each side: “So, this is also a very sensitive issue, Geri. And I with Aganzo, obviously, have already told you, the relationship was correct and professional because it belonged to the union and defend the interests of the players. But I don't have anything with him either and after the ugly one he made me I put the cross on him. I don't think this is our topic, it's a topic... We are asking for the resignation of an AFE president who is really moving him is Rubiales? I don't know, I think that we here is their issue to be resolved between them.”

That analysis in a Whatsapp audio that Ramos did for Pique quickly reached Luis Rubiales' phone through the Barcelona player's cell phone. Sergio's criticism of the top manager of the RFEF fell to the president himself. In contact, the Barcelona player who has been wearing the shirt of that club for more than a decade clarifies to Rubiales that this is only for him to hear and is something “confidential”.

But it also reveals that he tried to convince Lionel Messi to join the movement against the players' union, but the Argentinean — then the main benchmark for the blaugrana squad — refused to get involved in a convoluted issue. “The issue is a bit complicated because Leo doesn't want to lead any of this. No movement of these, does not want to get involved and does not understand the circumstances of everything. He told me to talk to the people in Madrid to see what they say about this. And of course, Sergio sent me this and I'm a little now... Tomorrow I'm going to explain it to Leo, but I talked to him on the phone, told him about the background. The uncle was very grateful but from there to get into something like that and lead it, only I don't see it,” he clarified to Rubiales.

According to the Spanish media that released all these conversations, Rubiales was not pleased with what Pique did because he considered that the movement of pieces was hasty. “You don't need to send me anything because it wasn't the time to talk to Sergio in my opinion,” I would have said.

The entire audio series unveiled by the newspaper El Confidencial began with a dialogue that exposed the business that Pique and Rubiales facilitated for the Spanish Super Cup to move to Arabia Saudi. “It doesn't have to do a commercial issue with a theme in the field. I bring an opportunity to the RFEF. They go from taking 120,000 euros to 40 million. Are the referees going to beat us better?” , Piqué defended himself minutes after the news report was released.

However, the new publications also stated that the man from Barcelona asked Rubiales for help to be summoned to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games — he was not finally cited — and there he also tried to prevent him from finding out about his movement Ramos, with whom he shared the defense of the Spanish national team for ten years. In another of the productions presented, you can see the dialogue between the two central protagonists of the scandal following a complaint by the athlete about the use of VAR.

“I ask you to talk about the crime you have committed, which is barely being talked about. Who does this benefit? I don't drink alcohol, I don't smoke... but I don't guarantee that tomorrow they can put a sack of cocaine in my trunk. I had a hard time because people were hurt. Don't you think it's a mafia action that they stole this from me in the interest of selling it to the press and damaging my image and playing some audios and not the answers?” , Rubiales defended himself at a controversial press conference.

KEEP READING: