Boca found relief at height: He was last in the group zone of the Copa Libertadores, an uncomfortable sporting reality. But Sebastián Battaglia’s team, in a hurry to get the three points, beat Always Ready in the 3600 meters of La Paz by 1-0 and settled in Group E heading to the round of 16 of the continental competition. The great controversy of the night was the non-existent penalty that was charged to the xeneize team and that Eduardo Salvio turned into a goal. But following the game another great debate arose, or rather a conflict: the Bolivian club denounced that the Xeneize leadership, commanded in La Paz by Juan Román Riquelme, vice president and leader of the Football Council, He left gifts to the arbitral trio headed by the Peruvian Kevin Ortega, which required police intervention, which confiscated the elements.
the president of Always Ready de Bolivia, Andres CostaI speak in Radio Mitre following the entry of Bolivian police officers, who checked the referees’ clothing at the end of the game and removed clothing and different gifts with the colors and shield of Boca. Among them, shirts of Edwin Cardona (now in Racing) and Darío Benedetto. “They would have given gifts to the referees,” he launched and added: “The police entered with permission and the presence of the referees to verify that there were a lot of gifts in the locker room that the police had seized.” The leader continued: “I wonder if it is allowed to give gifts to a referee. If Conmebol does not sanction the referee (Kevin Ortega) he is being an accomplice”, said the boss of the Altiplano team. “The Conmebol regulation is being violated with the delivery of gifts”, signed the son of the president of the Bolivian soccer federation.
Videos circulated following the game in which a group of judges and police officers searched the gift bags. The club’s press area released a video in which an official says: “There are four.” Those in charge of the requisition were removing different jerseys of the visiting team from the wrappings; there you can see a substitute white shirt and a traditional blue and yellow one.
“Take them away, take them away,” says a person accompanying the referees, while in the scene you can also see the catering table offered to the referees and Conmebol officials. “We are going to hold him and you tell us what we are going to do,” warns the police officer who is leading the operation.
Asked regarding the claim that they will raise due to this situation, the top leader of Always Ready made it clear: “We do not want to make a complaint once morest Boca or ask for points. Not at all. We only want the arbitration team to be investigated and sanctioned, because the regulation is clear and prohibits giving gifts to members”.
Andres Acosta completed: “We have nothing once morest Boca, the problem is that the referees have received gifts and a responsible investigation will have to define it. I feel harmed and that the Conmebol regulations have been violated. We are not going to initiate any process, but we are going to face a lawsuit once morest the refereeing body. The problem is not with the leadership of Boca or Always Ready, but with who accepts the gifts. We are waiting for the police report to see who was responsible.”
What does the protocol say? Arbitrators, by regulation, cannot receive gifts, but have to report it to the arbitration advisor. Peruvian judges are preparing a report to present to Conmebol. “This can end in a scandal. The referees of the match would have received gifts from the xeneize team. An impartial and transparent investigation is urgently needed,” wrote journalist Jorge Garrett. “Why did the Xeneize leadership make these gifts before the game?” Sport Bolivia asked.
Likewise, the local goalkeeper Arnaldo Giménez pointed out regarding the badly charged penalty: “How can you analyze something that has nothing to do with football. It is a gift, that the referees stop screwing around, that they let the teams called boys compete. I ask the referee what he charged and he doesn’t know how to answer me. It is very obvious that the referee came to screw up the game. There is a sacrifice behind all this. And they don’t let us compete. It’s very sad, because they end up giving him the game.” Always Ready trainer Eduardo Villegas added: “It was a very obvious bias, without dissimulation. If that penalty is not invented, the story might be different”.