With the Spanish Football Federation President Luis Rubiales landing in hot waters after kissing star footballer Jenni Hermoso on the lips on winning the FIFA World Cup, he has apologized for the same on Monday. While Rubiales apologized, he underlined that he did it with no wrong intentions in mind and that such things are not uncommon.
The incident occurred after Hemoso collected the medal and it provoked widespread global controversy and demanded he apologize for his actions. Spain Sports' minister on Monday demanded that he made amends for what he did.
Speaking in a video posted by Spanish television on social media, Rubiales revealed that he will learn from this experience and acknowledged the mistake made by him.
"Certainly, I made a mistake and I have to acknowledge that. It was done without any ill intention in a moment of the highest exuberance. Here we saw it as natural and normal but outside it has caused a commotion. I have no choice but to apologise and to learn from this... and when representing the federation take more care."
"It was a totally spontaneous mutual gesture" - Jenni Hermoso
Hermoso's initial statement regarding the incident was, "I didn’t like it, eh!"
Hermoso opened up on the incident, stating that it was a harmless gesture of affection and gratitude and urged the media not to deflect from their World Cup victory. The 33-year-old stated in a video posted by SFF:
"It was a totally spontaneous mutual gesture because of the immense joy that winning a World Cup brings. The president and I have a great relationship. His behaviour with all of us has been outstanding and it was a natural gesture of affection and gratitude. A gesture of friendship and gratitude cannot be gone over so much, we have won a World Cup and we are not going to deviate from what is important."
The 1-0 win over England in the final gave Spain their first World Cup title.
