The situation
José Luis Gayà is already in Spain. The international landed early on Saturday at the Madrid airport with a tired face and downcast mood, as captured by a cameraman from the Valencian regional television A Punt. Gayà returned from Qatar accompanied by Fernando Giner, delegate of the National Team and president of the Valencia Footballers Association. The winger has arrived in the City of Patena at 10:45 without making any statements. The black and white captain will need a few days to assimilate what has happened to him, being left out of a World Cup due to a slight ankle sprain, a decision by Luis Enrique widely criticized by the Valencia press and also by former internationals and Valencia captains such as David Albelda or Ricardo Arias. The three reference newspapers in printed edition of Valencia covered their front pages this Saturday with photographs of Gayà’s goodbye to the concentration of Spain. The three editorialized their information with criticism of Luis Enrique’s decision. Las Provincias headlines: “Injustice with Gayà”. The newspaper reports that “soccer is cruel to the Valencian, who is missing the World Cup due to a slight sprain, and Luis Enrique is not waiting for him as he did in the Euro Cup with Busquets.”
The details
The newspaper Levante-EMV emphasized with typography: “Luis Enrique leaves Gayà in the lurch”, emphasizing that he leaves him out “despite suffering a slight sprain”. Superdeporte , for its part, headlines its cover: “Stolen dream: Gayà’s sad goodbye to the World Cup after Luis Enrique’s incomprehensible decision in Doha”, illustrating its first page with a photograph of the Valencia captain saying goodbye to his teammates. Not only the press and Valencian fans through the networks show their disagreement with Luis Enrique’s decision. Illustrious footballers from the National Team and Valencia, such as Ricardo Arias and David Albelda , also did so . The latter wrote on Twitter: “Can a player from the final list be replaced for having a minor injury? I thought that the FIFA regulations only allowed it if it was a serious injury. Amunt Gayà!!!”.