Sergio Ramos announced his retirement from international duty with Spain today, claiming that new coach Luis de la Fuente told him he couldn’t rely on him. The PSG defender, who won the 2010 World Cup as well as the 2008 and 2012 European Championships with La Roja, will last play for Spain in March 2021.
Ramos, who will turn 37 in March, wrote an open letter on social media in which he claimed the new coach forced him to resign. “The time has come to say farewell to the national team, our beloved and exciting Roja,” Ramos wrote.
“This morning I received a call from the current coach who told me that he does not and will not count on me, regardless of the level I can show or how I continue my career. With much sorrow, it is the end of a journey that I hoped would be longer and that would end with a better taste in my mouth, at the height of all the successes we have achieved with our Roja.”
Ramos appeared 180 times for Spain, more than any other player in the country’s history.
Despite his injury recovery and progress with PSG, Luis Enrique did not select him for the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
De la Fuente took over for Luis Enrique in December after Spain was knocked out of the World Cup in the last 16 by Morocco.
Spain’s next matches are Euro 2024 qualifiers against Norway and Scotland in March. Other veteran players still thriving, according to the defender, include PSG teammate Lionel Messi, who won the World Cup with Argentina last year at the age of 35. “Because being young or less young is neither a virtue nor a defect; it is simply a transient characteristic that is not always related to performance or ability,” Ramos added.
Messi, as well as two former Real Madrid teammates, Croatia’s Luka Modric, 37, and Portugal’s Pepe, 39, all played in the World Cup.