Fabián Ruiz still isn't over Argentina's antics

There's a version of winning a World Cup final where you shake hands, swap shirts, and move on. Fabián Ruiz's comments, relayed by Foot Mercato, suggest that isn't quite how it went down at the end of Spain's extra-time win.

A grudge with a two-month delay

Ruiz is raising this roughly two months on from the final, not in the immediate afterglow of a first World Cup winner's medal, which is what makes the timing stand out.

Foot Mercato's report doesn't spell out the exact nature of the incidents Ruiz is referring to, so there's no use pretending we know the full picture. What's clear is that a Spain player who was directly involved in that final, not a pundit or a fan on the timeline, felt strongly enough about it to speak up months after the result was settled.

Why Ruiz's voice carries weight here

Ruiz isn't a fringe figure lobbing grenades from the bench. He's a regular in Luis Enrique's, sorry, Spain's midfield setup with 48 caps and 7 goals for the national team, and he's spent the 2025/26 season at Paris Saint-Germain, chipping in 2 goals and 5 assists in 28 appearances so far. When a player of that standing and that involvement in the final talks about the aftermath, it lands differently than the usual post-tournament noise.

Spain's win itself was tight enough to have story written all over it: a goalless 90 minutes settled only in extra time. Finals decided by fine margins tend to produce heightened emotions in the closing seconds, from both benches, and it's not hard to imagine tempers running hot once Spain's players realised they'd actually done it.

What happens next

Don't expect a formal response from the Argentine federation off the back of one player's comments two months after the final whistle. But Ruiz going on record, rather than letting it slide as tournament folklore, keeps the story alive at a moment when both sides would probably rather be talking about the new season. Whether Argentina's camp responds, or simply lets it pass, will say plenty about how seriously either side wants to keep relitigating that night.