Vélez Sarsfield decided to “temporarily separate” the footballers Miguel Brizuela and Thiago Almada, one of the main promises of Argentine football, after knowing his accusation for alleged sexual abuse.
The accusation was notified by the Functional Instruction Unit, specialized in Gender Violence of the San Isidro Judicial Department, after which the club decided to activate “the institutional action protocol.”
“It has been determined to temporarily separate both professionals from the first team until their legal situations are resolved. The footballers will be accompanied by the Institution's Department of Psychology. The Club places itself at the disposal of the victim and justice”, highlights the statement issued by Vélez.
On December 4, a woman reported having been sexually abused by a man at a clandestine party in which there were four Vélez players: Miguel Brizuela, Ricardo Centurión, Juan Martin Lucero and Thiago Almada, according to the club.
After knowing the news, the Buenos Aires team assured that the four footballers would collaborate as witnesses, and finally two of them ended up being charged.
In a house in the province of Buenos Aires
The clandestine party was held amid measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The woman reported that the abuse occurred in one of the rooms of a house in the province of Buenos Aires.
The woman's lawyer, Raquel Hermida Leyenda, assured shortly after the complaint to the Todo Noticias channel that her client was “in shock” and “very nervous.”
“We could not see each other, I met her crying voice. Her name came out everywhere and it is wrong, she felt revictimized. She is not in a condition to speak. She asks for the necessary time to be able to do so,” he said.
“As an expert in the matter, in principle they should not take testimonial statements from any soccer player because that would be to delimit them. We have to wait for the expertise, we have to wait for the process to continue and then summon them as witnesses,” said the woman's lawyer who filed the complaint.