The Real Madrid star’s wife was a well-known football journalist in Argentina before she moved to Spain in 2019.
Federico Valverde’s wife criticized him for not “risking anything” after his performance in a Champions League game.
Valverde started for Real Madrid in their shocking defeat against Ajax in 2019. The Dutch giants smashed Real Madrid 4-1 at Santiago Bernabeu to reach the quarter-finals, a frustrating evening for every Real Madrid fan, including Valverde’s wife.
“My wife? Mina? She is on another level! She knows the game very well, and she is Argentinian, and you know how they are. Hahahah. Whatever I do, it’s never enough,” Valverde wrote in Players’ Tribune.
“Remember when Ajax knocked us out of the Champions League? We got into the car after the match, and I was fuming, and the first thing she said to me: ‘Really, Fede? Are you serious? What was that? That’s how you are going to play for Real Madrid?’ I said, ‘You think I don’t know?’
“She said, ‘You didn’t risk anything. You have to shoot. It’s the strongest part of your game.’ Man, I had to crank the volume knob all the way up to drown out her analysis.
“The worst part — and I would never tell her this, so I hope she is not reading — the worst part is that she was right. Hahahah. Damn!”
Mina Bonino: Who is Valverde’s wife?
Mina Bonino, born in 1993, is a well-known media professional in Argentina. Bonino gained recognition from a young age for her work in television, particularly as a reporter covering River Plate.
Valverde and Bonino first connected online, initially through Instagram, and despite officially announcing their relationship in March 2019, they had been conversing for some time.
Bonino revealed in an interview that she flew from Argentina to Spain to meet Valverde, and their relationship blossomed. Just two months after their first date, Bonino moved in with the Uruguayan midfielder. In February 2020, the couple welcomed their first child after a complicated 14-hour delivery in a Madrid hospital.
Bonino is still a working journalist, covering Real Madrid on social media.
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