Velez fans were so enraged following their loss to Huracan, they viciously attacked their own players by at gunpoint.
Former Atletico Madrid and Uruguay legend Diego Godin had a farewell match to forget as Velez Sarsfield lost to Huracan 1-0, in an Argentine Premier Division clash, sparking a violent incident by a section of angry fans on Sunday.
The fans were so incandescent with rage, they viciously attacked the players by assaulting them at gunpoint.
When the team returned to their training camp at the Villa Olimpica Stadium hours after the loss, they were given a rude welcome back when a fleet of cars sped towards the players at the stadium’s car park.
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The fans got out of the cars and then accosted the team. Some of the players who were involved in the unfortunate incident are still gobsmacked by the shocking turn of events.
“We arrived (at the Stadium) to get our cars and go home. We came out and it was all dark when the cars of the ‘Barra Brava’ came across us. There were probably five or six of them,” striker Gianluca Prestianni told ESPN on Monday.
“They hit me twice in the face while grabbing me by the jacket. I was too scared and my teammates didn’t want to go home in case they were followed.
“They even told one of them: ‘Get out of the car or I’ll shoot you twice in the legs,’” the 17-year-old forward said, adding that the incident is making him rethink staying at the club.
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Former Argentina international Leonardo Jara was the one who received the threat. “They crossed a car in front of me, they wanted me to get out of mine and said they were going to shoot me in the legs,” he told a radio local program.
“Atletico Velez regrets and strongly repudiates the intimidating situation experienced last night by some of our first team players in the vicinity of the Villa Olimpica,” the club reacted in a statement.
Local media outlets reported that the players decided against filing a police complaint, but were summoned for criminal investigation.
Coach Sebastian Mendez informed the club’s directors that the team will not be returning to training until the players are guaranteed safety from such acts of hooliganism.
Velez finished a disappointing 25th on 27 points, winning just five of a possible 28 games all season.
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