The referee was accused of attacking the vice president and must testify in court

In one of the many public interventions that the president of Talleres de Córdoba, Andrés Fassihe made after that scandal that occurred on September 7, he promised to go “to the last consequences” and move forward with “a criminal complaint” against the referee Andres Merlosafter accusing him of having hit him in the locker room from the Malvinas Argentinas stadium in Mendoza, after going to reproach him for his performance in the defeat against Boca, in the round of 16 of the Argentine Cup.

The president reported having received a blow from the referee. The referee himself responded that he had seen two of the leader’s guards display a firearm in his locker room. A scandal that occurred on the field and is now continuing in the ordinary courts. And an episode that made Argentine football once again show its darkest side in the classification of the blue and gold team in an incredible penalty shootout.

This Thursday, it was learned that the prosecutor Gustavo Stroppianaof the Mendoza Justice, charged Merlos with injuries to the detriment of the vice president of Talleres Gustavo Gattialso imposing a prohibition on approaching him and leaders of the Córdoba club. In addition, the referee is scheduled to testify next Tuesday, November 19.

In the notification, it was detailed that Gatti suffered a “kick to the lower right abdomen” what caused him “linear excoriation 0.5cm long, 2 rounded violaceous ecchymoses each 1.8cm in diameter, 1cm apart on the right flank with a probable healing time and uselessness for work of less than a month”.

The elimination of Talleres against Boca ended in a scandal. After the defeat on penalties, in a match full of controversies, the president of the T, visibly angry, rebuked the referee Merlos, in an area near the locker room, to reproach him, among other reasons, for the goal validated against Xeneize that should have been be annulled.

The two had a heated discussion. Fassi himself recognized it, who later gave his version of what happened to the press: “I asked him why he continued to harm Talleres. Why he did it; it is not the first time, it has happened several times,” said the leader. And, regarding the incident, he detailed: “He started shouting and told me ‘if you want to talk I’ll invite you to come’, I said yes with all my pleasure. He came and attacked me. He punched me and hit him kick the vice president, Hugo Gatti.”

Hours later, in dialogue with DSports, Merlos told his version: “The truth is that it is a very regrettable, sad fact. Honestly, it is painful for football that this type of thing happens. There is no explanation for what this man does, it shows He has impunity, I don’t know if it is political, economic or what, but he has incredible impunity. I have no words, I had already had an incident with him in the past, when the same thing had happened to him, but now it was much more serious. because two people from him to the locker room and with a firearm.”

Fassi had already been suspended for rebuking Merlos in July 2022, after Talleres’ defeat against Central Córdoba, when he sent off Christian Oliva at the request of the VAR. In November of last year, he also questioned the referee during a match with Vélez in Liniers. Then, his son Juan Pablo Fassi targeted the president of the AFA. “How the Talleres present hurts Tapia and his henchmen, send whatever referee they want and keep trying to get us down. They won’t be able to, the T is much bigger,” he wrote on X, Elon Musk’s social network.

On October 10, The Disciplinary Court of the Argentine Football Association decided to suspend the president of Talleres de Córdoba, Andrés Fassi, for 24 monthsto exercise his position as a result of the aforementioned incidents.

The punishment, explained in a very extensive ruling that has more than 38 pages, was also applied for having “violated the AFA statutes” when Fassi tried to suspend the assembly of the Argentine soccer headquarters with a complaint to the General Inspection of Justice without previously appeal to the football bodies. The ruling, which has not yet been published, was signed this afternoon by the members of the Disciplinary Court headed by the notary Fernando Mitjans.

Asked by Clarín, however, Fassi said he had “no idea” about the Disciplinary Court’s determination. For his part, the vice president of Talleres, Gustavo Gatti, was suspended for six months from holding his position and the club received a reprimand.