Mariona Caldentey says Spain Women were glad to focus on winning again after producing a late comeback victory the day after the verdict of the Luis Rubiales trial.
On Thursday, Rubiales, the former head of the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), was fined more than €10,000 ($11,400) after being found guilty of sexual assault for kissing Spain forward Jenni Hermoso at the 2023 World Cup final.
On Friday, Spain scored two stoppage-time goals as they came from 2-0 down to beat Belgium 3-2 in the Women’s Nations League.
“What we want is to win games,” midfielder Caldentey said. “Obviously it’s been a difficult few months for everyone. Now the sentence is out, everything’s been said and done and we’ve come out to win and in the end we’ve done it.”
During the two-week trial in February, Judge Jose Manuel Clemente Fernandez-Prieto heard testimonies from Hermoso and her Spain team-mates Irene Paredes, Alexia Putellas and Laia Codina.
Hermoso was again not named in the squad for February’s Nations League fixtures, while Putellas missed out through injury. Paredes played the full 90 minutes of Friday’s win and fellow defender Codina was an unused substitute.
Spain, reigning world champions and ranked second in the world, had trailed 2-0 to a Belgium side 19th in the…
