The Espanyol soccer director, about the touch of Mapi León: “We will accompany Daniela as far as she wants to go”

In Espanyol they are very clear. The blue and white entity, which denounced on Monday some touching Mapi León a Daniela Caracas In the course of the last derby, subsequently denied by the Barça footballer, will support his player to the fullest. Until the last consequences. «For us, the images are very clear, it is an unacceptable, inadmissible action and, therefore, we are clear that we must put ourselves next to our player, especially when he is receiving insults and contempt, accompanying it, being at his side and taking the steps that she believes convenient, but what is clear is that the images speak for themselves, ”he says to El Mundo Ribaltadirector of blue and white women’s football.

«What we were clear is that we cannot show that this has not happened, that our player is the victim and that we cannot give normality to actions of this type, which are entirely unacceptable. We have to put ourselves next to our player, leave her calm to make the decision that creates more timely and make at your disposal all the legal media and the club’s psychologist. We will accompany Daniela to where she wants to arrive, either closer or further but, obviously, after going through a shock Thus and receiving all this avalanche you have received, what is now convenient is that it takes distance, that it can be calm, to recover, that you can see everything objectively and, from there, continue walking, ”he reiterates.

«She is a very important player for us, international for Colombia, who has been in the last World Cup and that gives us a lot in our team. What interests us most in this final stretch is that he is calm, that he can play without problems, because what has happened to him goes beyond being a footballer, is something that concerns the person. I can empathize with her, as a woman, as an athlete and as a former player and I can understand that it is something that is well above what a football game is, ”says Ribalta, team footballer parakeet between 1995 and 2007.

“It exceeds all limits”

«What we are clear about is that we will accompany her and give her all our support. Sports and other institutions must do or act according to what they think is convenient, it is something that we cannot decide, we can only decide what we have done: the statement, accompany it, protect it, be by their side and defend to the club. Those are the steps we had to give. And, obviously, to say that so far, because it is an unacceptable, intolerable action, which violates its intimacy, and condemn the facts, ”he says. “It is an issue that does not go colors, but of dignity and respect,” he emphasizes.

«Obviously, it is something that exceeds all limits. In the case of male football, we have what happened so many years ago between Míchel y Valderrama. Current society is much more sensitive in all these aspects, fortunately, because that means that society has progressed, that there is a path traveled and that sport must demonstrate values, be a mirror for society, and that this mirror has to Reflect positive values, ”insists Ribalta, who considers that, in the event that the situation had been conversely, he would have perhaps had an even greater resonance than he is having.

«At this time, women’s football lives the best moment in its history and, obviously, if it had been the other way around, the situation for us would be very compared compared to entities that have a much more comfortable situation at the social level. We are a club that struggles to occupy its space, which has always fought a lot in Catalonia, in Barcelona and the world to occupy our space, we are a very familiar entity, a club with many values. Many times, I think we are unjust, because knowing Espanyol is wanting it. First of all, we want our player, above all, to be happy, ”he says.