Millionaires wanted to strike a blow in Colombian soccer and Atlético Nacional took away the possibility, snatched a brand new contract from him and ended up getting the glory because he beat his rival.
It happened in 2015: Gustavo Serpa, the largest shareholder of the Bogotá blue team, was in talks with Reinaldo Rueda Rivera, who had just led Ecuador in the 2014 World Cup; however, Juan Carlos de la Cuesta, president of Atlético Nacional, was revived and ended up taking him to purslane.
The incredible anecdote was revealed by Reinaldo himself, in the middle of the conversation ‘Development and strategies in high competition: The World Cups, an experience to live’, promoted by the Atlético Nacional club.
“I was almost ready at Millonarios, and Juan Carlos de la Cuesta called me and told me he wanted to talk to me. I told him that the next day I was traveling to Bogotá, and he told me: ‘No, you are the coach of Nacional, we are going to publish it on the networks’, and we had not talked about anything at all… I was getting my hair cut to go to Bogotá, to speak with Gustavo Serpa”, told ‘RRR’.
“The next day, De la Cuesta arrived in Cali, accompanied by Víctor Marulanda, and how I said no to Atlético Nacional, despite the fact that some friends told me that I was crazy and that I expected to work with another team,” added Rueda.
Reinaldo also confessed that when he arrived in Medellín, already as DT of Nacional, he had to meet with the “Los del Sur” bar, who disagreed with his hiring. “They said we had to go; that Pedro Zape was from Cali, that I was from Cali, that what were we doing here?
The rest is history: Reinaldo Rueda won two Leagues, one Super League, one Copa Colombia, the Copa Libertadores (2016) and the Recopa Sudamericana.
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