36-year-old Sergio Ramos confirms his retirement from Spain's team

Former Spanish skipper Sergio Ramos announced the end of his story with the Spain football team in an extensive release on his personal Instagram account. This statement included a revelation about a communication maintained with Luis de la Fuente Castillo, Luis Enrique's brand new replacement at the helm of the national squad, which forced the decision taken by the player who played 180 games with this shirt and was champion of three titles with La Red Fury.

“The time has come, the time to say goodbye to the National Team, our dear and exciting Red. This morning I received a call from the current Coach who told me that he does not count and that he is not going to count on me, regardless of the level he can show or how I continue my sports career. 

With a lot of regrets, it is the end of a journey that I hoped would be longer and that it would end with a better taste in the mouth, on a par with all the successes we have achieved with our Red ”, wrote the central defender of PSG.

He then regretted the conclusion of this tour after being left out of the last WC 2022 in Qatar: "Humbly, I think that this career deserved to end due to a personal decision or because my performance was not up to what our National Team deserves, but not because of the question of age or other reasons that, without having heard them, I have felt ”.

The 36-year-old ex-Real Madrid man is the footballer with the most appearances defending his country on a pitch and, in that way, he scored 23 goals. After his debut on March 26, 2005, in a friendly victory against China, Ramos displayed all his talent to reach the peak of his career by winning the 2010 WC added to the 2008 and 2012 Eurocups achieved under the direction of Luis Aragones and Vicente del Bosque, who replaced the former after the first coronation at the continental level.

His great moments have already been left behind because he played his last game with Spain on March 31, 2021. The 3-1 win against Kosovo at home for qualifying for the WC was his farewell to the public. After playing Germany in 2006, South Africa in 2010, Brazil in 2014 and Russia in 2018, Luis Enrique ruled out his call-up, despite the defensive problems that his team exhibited in each match. Along with Sergio Busquets and Iker Casillas, they are the Spanish trio with the most matches played in a tournament of this nature (17).

"It would have been the fifth, but unfortunately, I will have to watch it from my house. It's hard, but every day the sun rises again. It will change absolutely nothing in me. Neither my mentality, nor my passion, nor my perseverance, nor the effort and dedication of 24 hours thinking about football," the defender stated in a letter published on November 14.