Ferran Ruiz (Girona) and Raul Asencio (Real Madrid) played their first minutes in La Liga in the colors of their respective clubs this weekend. The two players, with two other co-defendants, who like them were Real Madrid players at the material time, are accused of the offense of invasion of privacy and the alleged offense of child pornography.
Girona congratulated Ferran Ruiz on his first start, as he would undoubtedly have done with any player on his squad. Except that the 21-year-old defender is not just anyone. The tweet, which seemed harmless at first glance, therefore caused a wave of indignation to arise on the web. A little over a year ago, on June 15, 2023, the Spanish gendarmerie (Guardia Civil) arrested several players from the Real Madrid training center, including Ferran Ruiz.
The reason? The incriminated players (Andrés Garcia, Ferran Ruiz, Raul Asencio and Juan Rodriguez) are accused of having recorded without consent a sexual relationship with a minor and another young woman and of having massively distributed this content in Whatsapp loops. An investigation was opened against the accused for the offense of invasion of privacy and the alleged offense of child pornography.
The sexual relationship which put the players under threat of prosecution (they risk up to five years of imprisonment) took place on June 15, 2023. At the time of the events, the young shoots of Real Madrid (three of between them left the club) were aged between 20 and 21, while the young girls were aged 16 and 18, something the players were aware of, as shown in exchanges revealed by El Confidencial. The four players were on vacation in the Canary Islands when they met the two girls.
Investigators searched the players’ mobile phones and found a multitude of conversations between the interested parties and other footballers from the club’s youth teams. The work of accessing the contents of the phones was carried out by specialists from the Cybercrime Department of the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Guardia Civil.
Very crude messages
Informed at the time that they were the subject of an investigation, the players rushed to delete a certain amount of content before seizure from their mobile devices, indicates El Confidencial. The videos could therefore not be exhumed.
On the other hand, the conversations eventually came to the surface. The messages found – very crude – show how Juan Rodríguez (now a Tarazona player) gloried to another young woman about having had sexual relations with a minor.
In other conversations from these same WhatsApp loops, some players boast of having been violent during the act. Allusions to the beatings were found. As for Ferran Ruiz, the Guardia Civil found after searches of his cell phone that he had also shared the videos.
Real Madrid, which promised at the time of the outbreak of the affair to take “appropriate measures”, never sanctioned the players involved. Former Spanish U19 international Raul Asencio, the only one to have remained at the club, made his first appearance in the professional group last season, and even made his big debut with Carlo Ancelotti’s first team at the weekend. -last end, replacing at short notice the Brazilian Militao, victim of a serious injury. Author of an assist for Jude Bellingham, he received congratulations from his coach.
