Last week, while the Spanish team was preparing for the duels against Georgia and Bulgaria, the name of Sergio Ramos was heard again in the halls of the Las Rozas Football City: “The most toxic player we have ever known,” they said in the Federation. And four years have passed since the Andalusian’s last game with La Roja, against Kosovo, when Luis Enrique was still directing from the bench. The Asturian erased him from the Qatar World Cup and Luis de la Fuente, an old connoisseur of the ins and outs of the house of La Roja – he has been in the Federation since 2013 – signed Ramos’ absence, even though the former Madrid centre-back opted more for politics than for football to try to return to the national team. However, De la Fuente, in addition to wanting to purge the group, was clear about who his centre-back pairing would be: Laporte–Le Normand.
