Ramos finished with the national team. It looks like the coach hinted that Sergio is already too old

Resentment.

Sergio Ramos ended his career in the Spanish national team: he himself announced this on Thursday.

He has an impressive record even though he hasn’t played for the national team in the last couple of years.

• Ramos is the national team record holder. He played 180 matches and has long been in the lead. And of the current players in the top ten there is no one else.

• Sergio played for Spain for the first time at 18 years and 361 days in March 2005. Then he became the youngest player in history. True, a year later Cesc Fabregas broke his record, only then they were surpassed by Bojan Krkic, Ansu Fati and Gavi.

• Despite the fact that Sergio has now announced his departure from the national team, he has not played for it since the spring of 2021 – he did not even qualify for Euro 2020, and then also missed the 2022 World Cup.

It seems that the new coach is not counting on Ramos because of his age. I called and said

In Ramos’ farewell, resentment at the new head coach of the Spanish national team, Luis De La Fuente, is evident – it was he who called the player and said that he would not call again.

“The time has come – the time to say goodbye to our dear national team. This morning I received a call from the current head coach, who told me that he does not count on me now and will not be in the future, no matter what level of play I show and no matter how I continue my sports career.

It is with a heavy heart that this is the end of a journey that I hoped would continue and end on a more pleasant note, given all the success we have had with the national team.

I sincerely believe that this journey deserved to end by my own choice. Or at least because my level of play would not correspond to this team. Not because of age or other reasons, which, although they were not voiced to me directly, I felt them.

Age in itself is neither a virtue nor a vice; it’s just a number, not necessarily related to game level or skill. I admire and envy players like Modric, Messi and Pepe. They represent the essence of tradition, values, meritocracy and fairness in football.”

Is there really more to it than a dry goodbye? Is that an insult?

Ramos compared himself to other “old men”. Who are still with their teams

Why did Ramos write about these players – Luka Modric, Leo Messi and Pepe? All of them are 35+, and they are still the main ones both in clubs and in teams.

• At 35, Messi took Argentina to World Cup gold and became the oldest World Cup Player of the Year winner.

• Modric is the oldest Croatian international to have played in a World Cup, the oldest goalscorer in national team history, and is consistently on similar lists at club level.

• Pepe turns 40 on Monday and is at Porto’s start against Inter in the Champions League! At the World Cup, the Portuguese even scored for the national team and became the oldest goalscorer in the playoffs of the world championships.

The course for rejuvenation in the Spanish national team was announced even before De La Fuente – Luis Enrique’s team was one of the youngest not only at the 2022 World Cup, but in general in the history of the World Cups.