The kiss on the lips of the player Jennifer Hermoso was a “mutual gesture”, characterized by “noble intentions” and “100% non-sexual”: this is how Luis Rubiales, former president of the Spanish Football Federation, returned to reiterate his version of the episode that occurred after the final of the Women’s World Cup which then led to his resignation. In this case, Rubiales spoke in an interview with British journalist Piers Morgan and broadcast in full today on TalkTV.
“Ours was a spontaneous act, a mutual act, an act to which we both consented, driven by the emotion of the moment, by happiness, so I maintain that this is the truth of what happened,” said Rubiales, according to his statements collected by AFP. The former number 1 of the Iberian Football Federation, however, admitted that the gesture of the kiss, given the institutional role he held in that context, was “a mistake”, claiming to have admitted it “immediately”. “A president can give a hug, but he must act in a more diplomatic way”, he commented, explaining that he was ready to “defend” his “own dignity” with “the truth”. Rubiales also declared that he would have behaved “in the same way”, with “hugs and kisses” to the players, even if the men’s national team had won the World Cup.