MADRID, 28 One. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of Real Betis Balompié, Ángel Haro, once again defended his club’s version of the simulation carried out by Sevilla so that the last Copa del Rey duel would not be resumed, after the impact on Joan Jordán of a bar of plastic thrown from the stands of Benito Villamarín.
“Sevilla pretended that there was a disabling injury so that the game would not be resumed,” he stated resoundingly this Thursday night in an interview with ‘El Partidazo de Cope’, reported by Europa Press.
Haro gave details of the expert report in the hands of Betis about what happened after Jordán fell to the ground on January 15, shortly before the break and with 1-1 in the Copa del Rey round of 16 match. The meeting ended suspended to end on Sunday with a victory from Betica, behind closed doors.
“It is a report with judicial validity, not a Betis report. And the report says that the speed of the impact could not cause a disabling injury (to Jordan),” added the Betis president. After the match, the Verdiblanco coach, Manuel Pellegrini, already advanced his club’s position of condemning the actions of the fan, who should never throw anything, but also requesting an investigation of what happened afterwards.
“The impact could not cause an injury. And I don’t say so, science says so. The energy of that impact is 3 joules, equivalent to a half-empty bottle of water,” Haro said Thursday. “I am clear that the call to Martagón is not made by the president or the vice president. I did not see Monchi speak on the phone,” he added.
The plot denounced by Betis would begin in a conversation by the Sevilla delegate by telephone, and a series of instructions that he would later give to different players. “The video provides a lot of information,” explained Haro, about the evidence collected in that report. “The first person responsible is the one who launched the object, but the following are the ones who simulated it,” he said.
“Jordán’s medical report does not say that he suffers a disabling injury. In fact, the medical prescription is that he take an Enantyum and go home,” explained Haro, who acknowledged that he did not like the “ridicule of players and managers from Betis. “It seems that it is a mockery of an athlete who has suffered an assault and I disapprove of them,” he said.
The same night the game was suspended, several Betis players criticized the performance of the rival coach, Julen Lopetegui, for inciting Jordán to simulate dizziness and throw himself on the ground. The next day, Pellegrini asked “to know if a plastic stick produces a trauma”, “it deserves an investigation”.
The Permanent Commission of the State Commission against Violence, Racism, Xenophobia and Intolerance in Sport requested the temporary closure for a month of Benito Villamarín due to “the very serious incidents” of the derby, while the RFEF Competition Judge determined the closure of the stadium for two games.