Real Madrid youth players must face justice over video, accuser tells AS

The Real Madrid youth teamers accused of distributing a sexual video featuring a minor must be shown that they cannot act with impunity, one of the players’ alleged victims has told an interview with AS.

Real Madrid youth players arrested

Three Madrid academy players, who are over 18, have been arrested over the alleged sharing of the video, which is said to have been filmed at a beach club they attended on the Spanish island Gran Canaria in June.

In a statement, Madrid confirmed last week that three players for Real Madrid C, the club’s third team, and one from reserve side Castilla had given statements to Spanish police in the wake of the allegations.

The arrests were made after the mother of the minor, who is 16, reported to police that the footage had been recorded and shared on the messaging platform WhatsApp without her daughter’s consent.

“I don’t know how to deal with it on my own”

Speaking to AS, a second accuser allegedly filmed in the video, who is not a minor, said she has been left in need of professional psychological help.

“I need a psychologist,” Sofía (not her real name) said. “My life hasn’t been easy and now I need one, more than ever: the help of a qualified individual who can give me treatment and support around this issue, because I don’t know how to deal with it on my own.

“Although I have a lot of people around me who are giving me mental support, I also need a professional.”

“What was never consensual was the filming and sharing of the video”

Sofía, 18, added: “The sexual relations were consensual, I should make that clear. What was never consensual was the filming and sharing of the video.”

She says that when it became apparent to the accusers that they had been filmed, they asked the Madrid youth players to delete any footage from their phones - but one video must already have been shared on WhatsApp.

“We asked them to please delete those videos, and to do it in front of us: to delete the videos from both the phone’s video gallery and its recently-deleted folder,” Sofía said. “They showed us something like five videos.

“In the time it took for us to say something to them, they must have had time to send the video to other phones.”

“They lied to us”

Sofía continued: “They lied to us. They assured us that the footage had been deleted […]. I took them at their word, because I had watched them delete the videos in front of me.”

Asking for “justice to be done”, Sofía concluded: “I believe they feel so protected because they’re at a big club, in an environment where they’re safe and secure.

“So they say, ‘It doesn’t make any difference if I do this.’ I’m protected. Whatever happens, if I have money I have lawyers and I can buy what I want. With money, anything can be done.”

Video case coincides with Rubiales row

The arrests have come at time when Spanish soccer is embroiled in a sexual-assault row involving the Spanish Football Federation’s former president, Luis Rubiales, after he kissed the player Jenni Hermoso on the lips following Spain’s Women’s World Cup final win in August.

Rubiales resigned as president last week over the kiss, which Hermoso has said she did not consent to. A court in Madrid is considering a criminal complaint against Rubiales, who has been told not to go within 200 metres of Hermoso.