Date 13 of the 1996 Closing Tournament. The defending champion Vélez was fighting for the title with Boca in Liniers. Figures? To spare: José Luis Chilavert, Mauricio Pellegrino, Christian Bassedas, Patricio Camps, Fernando Pandolfi and Turu Flores in the team led by Carlos Bianchi; Navarro Montoya, Fernando Gamboa, Néstor Fabri, Kily González, Juan Sebastián Verón, Claudio Paul Caniggia and Diego Armando Maradona in that of Carlos Salvador Bilardo. Referee Javier Castrilli had an inordinate role for his decisions. The public too.
The Xeneize He started with his right foot for Caniggia’s goal, but Vélez would turn it around thanks to Camps (a disputed goal because the Mono Navarro Montoya swore to have taken the ball over the line) and Chilavert, with a masterful free kick. At the end of the first half, the judge sanctioned a dubious penalty from Mac Allister that was changed by the Fortín goalkeeper for 3-1 in favor. Before his execution, Fabri saw the red one for protesting the visit.
The fans xeneizes They did not tolerate the refereeing and, enraged, forced the match to be suspended for several minutes. Dozens hung themselves and broke the fences of the popular visitor. Maradona accused Castrilli of having exasperated the people and the referee also fired him. It was then that one of the most hilarious dialogues in memory took place.
– Explain why, let’s see. Master, but what are you, dead? He is not dead, explain to me, please I ask him. We are speaking as men, as human beings.
Maradona’s plea to an immutable Castrilli, surrounded by his assistants, was useless. There Navarro Montoya, in his eagerness to contain him, called him by his nickname (Armando by his middle name) and tried to dissuade him: “He is not going to answer you, he is not going to answer you!”, he insisted Mono. And Diego exploded: “Won’t you answer me? It’s a button then. He’s a son of a bitch ”.
In the complement Vélez liquidated him with a goal from Gamboa against and another from Type Flowers. From yapa, the Colorado Mac Allister was expelled for insulting Castrilli. Paradoxically, the night that was forgotten in Boca can never be lost in the collective memory of every soccer fan.
The popular visitor was abuzz with blows between fans and police officers. Meanwhile Castrilli decided to continue the action. With two less men, Boca found it impossible to compete as equals against a rival who would ultimately be champion again. Years later, Navarro Montoya said that in the privacy of the campus Many called Maradona “Armando” and even because of his degree of confidence he dared to say “Fat”. The Mono, he was not him Mono, but “Gorilla”. About the episode, he recalled a couple of years ago: “Javier sometimes lacked understanding of the context, the moment. Diego did not understand the expulsion and what is more, I did not know that he had been expelled, I realize when I see him face to face. I’m going to look for him, to separate him, because I didn’t want him to grow up and I knew I wasn’t going to answer him as I told him … We footballers sometimes generate moments that remain for a lifetime”.
Castrilli also gave details of that crossing with Maradona in an interview with this medium last year: “I directed it several times. And to be honest, his treatment of me was always respectful. He always addressed me as ‘teacher’. That is to say, I did not treat him rudely or disrespectfully until that game against Vélez ”.
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