Guillermo Marconi confessed that Julio Grondona asked him so that River would not be relegated

He June 26, 2011 will be marked in the history of Argentine football. That afternoon they faced each other River and Belgrano for the rematch of the Promotion and the story is known: the match ended 1 to 1 (the first leg had been 2 to 0 in favor of the Pirate) and the Nuñez club lost the category for the first time in its history.

Guillermo Marconi, owner and founder of Argentine Union of Sports Referees of the Argentine Republic (SADRA), recalled the warning that the former president of the AFA, Julio Grondonabefore and at halftime of the match.

“Grondona only once asked me for something. River and the descent of River. Two of my referees directed it. Pitana and Pezzotta. Julio (Grondona) did not ask me for something specific, but he told me: “Look Guillermo, if River goes to relegation this is a disaster. I come from Quinta de Olivos where they told me this”.

River to B in 2011: they revealed a request for it not to be relegated

“The president (at that time Cristina Fernández de Kirchner) called me from Quinta de Olivos and told me this, that there was a lot of concern, that if River went to relegation, the country would catch fire.”, he added.

This happened before the second leg was played at the Monumental and there was another call at halftime of the match.

The referee of the match at the Monumental was Sergio Pezzottahis performance was very bad and affected the result.

25 minutes into the first half, when River won 1 to 0Chiqui Pérez committed a clear penalty against Leandro Caruso, which was ignored by Sergio Pezzota.

Marconi remembers it this way: “In that game, he called me at halftime, I was with my wife and he said: ‘Why didn’t you take that penalty in favor of River? It was penal.

Marconi recalled that he responded: “Look Julio, if he didn’t charge it it’s because he didn’t go.” And the head of AFA told him “No, Guillermo, but this kills us.” Given this, the current head of SADRA told him: “let’s see what happened in the second half.”

After Marconi He stated: “To this day I don’t know why Pezzotta didn’t collect it.”

In the second half, River He had a penalty that was not – another gross mistake by Pezzotta – but Pavone missed it. Marconi closed his story by remembering that play: “In the second half, Pezzotta gave a penalty that didn’t happen. He didn’t take what he had and gave a penalty that didn’t happen, which ended up being missed by the kicker. There River went downhill. It was the only time Grondona asked me for something and unfortunately I couldn’t fulfill it.”.