Montse Tome plays down rift between Spanish men's and women's teams following Aitana Bonmati, Dani Carvajal comments

Understandably, there has been a lot of angst surrounding Spanish football over the last few weeks, following the Luis Rubiales kiss scandal that took place following the Women’s World Cup final in August.

The Spanish women’s team have been particularly affected by this situation, and this has led to changes within the Spanish Football Federation, including the firing of several officials with strong ties to Rubiales.

Despite this, there is still a long way to go until things are resolved, and many of Spain’s women’s team feel unsupported by those across the game, with star player Aitana Bonmati saying that the La Roja’s men’s team had been a disappointment to her and her teammates.

Dani Carvajal and Alvaro Morata both disagreed with Bonmati’s statements, which has led to rising tensions between the two sets of players. However, Montse Tome – head coach of the women’s team – has attempted to play down this rift when she spoke to the media following her squad announcement on Wednesday (via Sport).

“Aitana has been natural. We don’t have to give so much importance to the nuances of what is being said. Nor do we have to make a difference between the football played by men and women. There is no need to get into a debate. I respect all decisions. I don’t think there’s any debate.

“There is a very good relationship with Luis de la Fuente and all of his staff. We are colleagues and in those relationships we can benefit a lot from each other. I’ve benefitted from relationships with elite teammates that, when I was a player, were unthinkable to have.”

Tome’s remarks are unlikely to ease the angst shown in recent weeks between the two sets of Spanish national team players, and this is a situation that will probably rumble on for weeks