Spain head coach Montse Tome refuses to answer questions on Luis Rubiales case | OneFootball

Spain’s head coach Montse Tome refused to answer questions about Luis Rubiales after the former president of the Spanish football federation was found guilty of kissing Jenni Hermoso without her consent.

England will play Spain at Wembley on Wednesday in their first meeting since the Women’s World Cup final, which was overshadowed when Rubiales kissed Hermoso during the trophy celebrations in Sydney.

Last week, Madrid’s High Court found Rubiales guilty of sexual assault and ordered him to pay of a fine of more than €10,000, but cleared him of coercion.

Earlier on Tuesday, England manager Sarina Wiegman said Hermoso had shown “remarkable courage” in taking Rubiales to court, while England players have praised their Spanish counterparts for speaking out and demanding change.

"We're talking about it again today, I think we have to keep talking about it, unfortunately,” Wiegman said at Wembley. “We have to keep telling the world that we stand in solidarity with them and hopefully it will make change.”

However, when asked about Wiegman’s comments, Tome said she would only speak about the upcoming Nations League match against England and opted to not discuss the Rubiales case.

“I appreciate Sarina’s words and she’s a great coach who I respect,” Tome said. “My intention has been to ensure that whenever we are together on international duty and training camps we need to talk about football.

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Tome took charge of Spain at the Nations League finals and Olympics (Getty Images)

“I would be grateful for questions about football. Now the case is coming to an end, it is clear we have sided with the player. We hope things will go back to normal now. We want to focus on football and we are focused on the match tomorrow.”

Tome was an assistant head coach to Jorge Vilda at the Women’s World Cup and became head coach of the team when Vilda was sacked amid the Rubiales scandal. Vilda’s position became untenable when Spain’s World Cup winners refused to play for the team again while he was still in charge.

Tome, who was called as a witness in Rubiales’ defence during the trial at Madrid’s High Court, was then asked if it was a “dereliction of duty” to avoid talking about wider issues affecting the women’s game but insisted that she would only talk on-pitch matters.

“We are now just focused on the game,” said Tome, with the 42-year-old claiming she had discussed the matter before in Spain - despite refusing to talk about the Rubiales verdict before last week’s match against Belgium.

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Rubiales kissed Hermoso without her consent following Spain’s World Cup victory (BBC)

Tome has not selected Hermoso since October and has said her decision to omit Spain’s record goalscorer was based on “sporting merit” and that the door was not closed on any player to return.

Tome’s response to questions about the Rubiales case at Wembley stood in contrast to answers provided by Spain’s two-time Ballon d’Or winner Aitana Bonmati. The Barcelona said she appreciated the words of support from Wiegman, and also England players Lucy Bronze and Alessia Russo, adding that Spain “did not feel alone” during the ordeal.

“Everybody here knows what has happened in the last few months and years. The sentence is correct, it is a positive thing and the team feel the same,” Bonmati said before Tome’s press conference. “I was surprised that there was no sentence linked to coercion but the trial has served a purpose. We are all happy. We have been doing well on the pitch and supporting our teammates. We have battled hard and we know what we have done has not been in vain.

“I hope that this case makes changes in our country, in our football, to respect us better as footballers. But it’s also a global case. I don’t want to only speak about footballers. I think this happens in other jobs. I hope this case helps anyone who is going through these things. I hope this will help to respect women's rights.”