Red players broke the silence after Conmebol’s ruling and were united by issuing a statement.
Independiente’s professional team decided to speak and did so with a blunt message and together, after the controversial elimination of the team in the South American Cup after the Conmebol resolution that favored the University of Chile, giving the classification to the quarterfinals.
In a gesture of unity, the group’s referents (Rodrigo Rey, Iván Marcone and Federico Mancuello) took the floor on behalf of all their companions.
“Because the strength is born from injustice … and history calls us to be together,” said Captain King. For his part, Mancuello, he added: “Benefit only one of the parties leaves a dangerous message. This precedent guides us to a dark place. Here football lost.”
“It was a coup that we didn’t deserve. We have to rebuild ourselves stronger and more united than ever.”they held.
Finally, the message focused on the need to look forward: “In this delicate moment, more than ever we have to leave the differences aside and focus on the objectives we still have to meet”.
The statement was accompanied by the presence of the entire campus, in a sample of union at a critical moment of the institution.
The full message of the Independent squad:
“We are gathered today as a team, going through our fans the same feeling of pain and injustice. In the midst of sadness and helplessness it is not easy to express ourselves, nor is it easy to put in words everything that we had to live in the course of these days and what we feel with the final resolution.
Injustice is the feeling that invades us because we did not have the possibility of disputing the classification within a field of play, but that we have to see and feel how a group of visiting fans who came to our stadium with the clear intention of assaulting our people today are surely celebrating that their acts of violence result in the classification to their team. Undoubtedly, this is dangerous for football, a sport that encourages healthy, clean competition and tries to be a family show. Ourselves, on the court and for a long time, we insist on the party authorities to suspend it and take action because everything was getting out of control. But we had no response or there was action towards that order. It only extended everything over time, which ended up further increasing the degree of violence, despair and insecurity from the stands.
It gives us impotence to know that from our players we did, insist and from the field we are looking for how this would be controlled in time. This did not happen like this and today the only one eliminated is independent for having been the party organizing team. We believe there was a possible path to impart justice: same punishment, including disqualification for both, or playing on the field the remaining 45 minutes. As athletes we understand that it was the fairest and healthy way to give a resolution to this situation that surpassed us all. Benefit only one part leaves a dangerous message due to the magnitude of the facts.
That is why we want to ask Argentine clubs and their players the support that one day they may need, because this precedent (and hopefully we are wrong) guides us towards a dark place for the future of a clean competition. Those who believe there was only one winner are totally wrong; Here football lost.
Finally, we want to talk to Independiente’s family. This resolution, which benefits only one of the parties, was a blow that we did not deserve. But we don’t have to let that divide or stop us. On the contrary, we have to rebuild stronger, more united and more committed than ever. Each of us has a role in this reconstruction: from which it encourages to which it organizes, from the smallest to the greatest. This club is our house and we have to take care of it. And now, in this delicate moment, more than ever we have to leave the differences on the side and push forward.
Focus on what is coming and the objectives we still have to meet. This is achieved with work, commitment and something that can never be missing: the unconditional support of you, our people. Because the history of greatness of this club marks it. When we are united we are stronger.
On the part of the entire Independent squad, we appreciate this space very much to express ourselves. ”
