Argentine football experienced a scandal last weekend due to what happened in the match between Workshops y Boca by Argentine CupThe Cordoba team was harmed by the refereeing of Andres Merlos and its president, Andres Fassidenounced that the referee hit him in the locker room after the match. Then, Fassi attacked the AFA y Chiqui Tapia. And now the one who got into the fight was the President of the Nation, Javier Miley.
«President Javier Milei received the President of the Talleres de Córdoba Athletic Club, Andrés Fassi, at the Casa Rosada»shared the Office of the President of the Nation in a message that Milei himself republished. There you can see in a photo Milei with Fassi and the Talleres shirt in a clear gesture against the AFA and Tapia in the context of the Government’s fight against the association for the inclusion of the Sports Limited Companies (SAD) in football, which also included reactions from Mauricio Macri y Daniel Scioli.
“It makes me very sad, with the love I have for Argentine football and Boca, that Fassi is so right”wrote Macri on social media, after the press conference given by the president of Talleres on Monday, where he attacked the AFA and Tapia for the controversial refereeing decisions.
Like Macri, another important leader in politics and sports, Daniel Scioli, supported Fassi. “I contacted the sports leader Andrés Fassi, president of the Club Atlético Talleres de Córdoba, to offer him all my support and solidarity at this time when he dared to express his disgust with the bad practices in Argentine football.”wrote the Secretary of Sports on social media. Macri, Scioli and Fassi are all in favour of the entry of private capital, the Sports Corporations, into Argentine football, something that the AFA is opposed to.
Fassi’s complaint
«Chiqui, don’t play with Talleres anymore»Fassi said at a press conference on Monday, accusing the president of the AFA for the refereeing decisions against his team. «Unfortunately, I have asked Chiqui Tapia to meet with me for more than a year and a half now. So not only did you not receive me, but you repeatedly harm an institution that deserves respect. An institution that does not have to suffer any type of situation of all those that I have been speaking about personally with you and Mr. Federico Beligoy for the last 4 or 5 years.».
“There are only four or five servile or standard-bearing referees who unfortunately tarnish the 85% of honest refereeing, which has been a model in the world and has played in major World Cups with outstanding performances by great referees in its history.”said the president, firing at the AFA. “Don’t be confused, I’m not talking about Argentine refereeing: I’m talking about four or five servile referees”.
Fassi recounted how his fight with Merlos came about. «I got off the stage and when I got to the mixed zone, the referees were coming straight ahead. At that moment I decided to go and ask Mr. Merlos why he repeatedly harmed Talleres, and I was so certain about my question that during the three or four minutes that this whole situation took place, I didn’t say another word other than ‘I came to talk and explain to me why you continue to harm Talleres’»the president said.
Merlos’ blow to Fassi
«It seems that they leave him, he comes out of the locker room again and I am four or five metres from the door, he comes straight to look for me and I was still with police in front of me and he punched me in the right cheekbone, where the truth is that I was totally stunned and thinking ‘what madness what this man has just done, I have never seen a referee hit a club president’»the president of Talleres lashed out. And in the last few hours a video of the incident was released that would show Merlos’ blow.