Lola Gallardo (Sevilla, 30 years old) is one of the benchmarks of Spanish football. She is on the pitch — she won three league titles with Atlético de Madrid and the Champions League with Olympique de Lyon — and she is also off it. She unprejudiced and daring, frank and feisty; Above all brave, the Atlético goalkeeper was one of the 15 who stood up to Jorge Vilda and Luis Rubiales. She never corrected. She put her beliefs before fame, feminism before gold. With Luis Rubiales suspended by FIFA, she picks up the phone and the first thing she blurts out is that she feels relieved.
Ask. Why are you relieved?
Answer. It was before, now much more. It has been shown that we are not brats or capricious. I don’t know what else needs to happen for it to be clear.
Q. What did you think on Friday during Rubiales’ intervention?
R. I couldn’t finish watching it. She was pissing me off. Then I did look at social networks… I don’t know how to describe it, unfortunate?
Q. After everything that has happened, do those who asked (and did not rectify) not to be called up to the national team also feel like World Cup winners?
R. It is very hard. The ones who were left without playing have been us. We have been judged for many things, but ideas are ahead of a medal.
Q. Were you surprised by what happened with Rubiales?
R. The kiss to Jenni? No, but what I don’t know is if she would have thought of doing it with Irene, Alexia or any other player. I don’t know if she had it in mind or not. It was a horrible gesture. In men’s soccer it would never have happened. In her speech, she said that it was like giving her daughter a kiss. Jenni is not his daughter. She is a professional athlete. Nothing else.
Q. How was Rubiales’ treatment with the players?
R. He was never close to us. He was not traveling with us. The first time, in this World Cup. But since the 15 o’clock commotion had been armed, that is why he was present at all times in Australia and New Zealand. I don’t think they’ve ever treated us like professional footballers. And I don’t mean just the deal. The fact that at each rally we had to fight to improve things… It wasn’t too much what we asked for. We just wanted them to give us the comforts we needed so we wouldn’t have to think about anything else. That in men’s soccer does not happen. Same with the results. There was a powerful selection and it was not won. In the masculine, measures would have been taken, here never.
Q. If you don’t care about the feminine, why did you have such exuberant joy at the celebrations?
R. Spain had won a World Cup after having played only three. Rubiales, with that attitude, seemed like he wanted to take the spotlight away from the players. Everything is part of the same thing: the details.
Q. As which?
R. How to talk, for example, about champions and not about champions. Who were in the field? 23 footballers.
Q. But has Jorge Vilda also said that?
R. The people who applauded Rubiales’ speech should not be forgotten. The one who celebrates it has the same fault as the one who says it.
Q. And the role of the footballers?
R. Don’t know. I just know that we had to reach this limit for people to believe us. It doesn’t seem fair to me. We have lost the dream of playing in the World Cup. We did not ask for improvements because we wanted to. We did it because we are ambitious and we wanted to win.
Q. Did you speak to Jenni Hermoso?
R. Yes of course. Luckily, despite what’s going on, we were able to have a fun conversation. I sent her the photo that I was going to upload to the networks to support her and we laughed when we remembered the moment.
Q. How was it?
R. She told me that she felt strong, but that she needed to be calm. We are all with her. It was proved.
Q. Why was the image sold that everything was fine during the World Cup?
R. I never bought that everything was fine. When you win, everything is covered. It happens in the national team and also in the clubs. But when you lose everything comes out again. The ones who were doing well there were Rubiales and Vilda. And that’s why they acted as they did when the players won: “I smelled our eggs, with whom these blackmailing brats had gotten involved.” I’m sure they weren’t happy about the women’s, but about what they considered a personal victory.
Q. Hadn’t they been clear with their requests and that’s why they treated them like blackmailing brats?
R. For me we had been clear, what happens is that people like salseo. We did not ask for another selector, that was not our competence. We asked that, having the team we had, both in the Euro Cup in England and in the World Cup in France, there would be more quality in training. An action plan, in short. Now time has proved us right. It’s what annoys me the most.
Q. What do you think of Jorge Vilda’s salary increase?
R. What the schoolyard looks like: “You want half a million, well here you have it.” When things are done without analyzing them, they can never go well. During all these months, the federation had silenced many people. Now everyone has seen it. They can no longer decide what gets published and what doesn’t. They had a very great power. And that power is over.
Q. And the power of Jorge Vilda, who does not want to give up?
R. That will be decided by those who come. The World Cup was the fruit of the players.
Q. Did they win despite Vilda?
R. Definitely. We had a powerful team, with super-talented and ambitious players.
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