Barcelona star midfielder Patri Guijarro insists she will not return to the Spain women’s national team “as things stand”, with head coach Jorge Vilda set to announce his Women's World Cup squad in less than a week.
The Spanish national team has been gripped by internal crisis following their quarter-final exit to England in last summer’s European Championships, with 15 stars, not including two-time Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas, declaring themselves unavailable for selection while Vilda remained at the helm.
Patri – player of the match in Barcelona’s Champions League final victory over Wolfsburg – was one of the ‘rebel 15’ who banded together following Euro2022 in protest of Vilda’s position, emailing the Spanish Football Federation (Rfef) and citing his management as adversely impacting their “health” and “emotional state”.
Six Barcelona players were among those who sent emails, as were Manchester United's Ona Batlle and Lucía García, and Manchester City's Laia Aleixandri and Leila Ouahabi. No Real Madrid players sent emails.
However, the governing body refused the demands, declaring it was neither the players' job nor their “competences” to dictate who the manager of the team was. The players were threatened with a five-year ban from representing the national team if the 15 players did not “assume their mistake and ask for forgiveness”.
While the players denied an outright mutiny, midfielders Putellas, Patri and Aitana Bonmati (tallying 198 caps between them) have not played for Spain since the end of the Euros and uncertainty continues to shroud the squad’s World Cup preparations as Vilda remains in charge.
And following Barcelona’s dramatic Champions League victory over Wolfsburg, Patri asserted her exile would remain the same until Spain’s governing body altered their approach.
“As things stand today, I won’t play at the World Cup,” she said on RAC1. “Not as things stand, but it’s true I’ve got an emotional hangover today - we’ve just won the Champions League. We’ll see. I think every player wants to play for their country, I don’t know what to tell you. Not as things stand today.”
Spanish outlet AS claim that some of the group of 15 are ready to walk back on their refusal to play for the team, ahead of Vilda naming his squad for the finals on 12 June.
In the final international window before the summer’s showpiece event, La Roja picked up wins in both the friendlies they played, scoring seven goals on their way to seeing off Norway on 6 April and China five days later.
Competition for squad places remains fierce in a national team rife with talent. Nevertheless, the threat of the ‘rebel 15’ lingers.
Vilda, 41, has been the team coach since 2015 and oversaw the nation's Euro 2022 campaign, which saw the team eliminated by England in extra-time of their quarter-final clash. Spain had been billed as the pre-tournament favourites.
La Roja play Costa Rica, Zambia and Japan at the finals in Australia and New Zealand this summer.
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