From the hand of Gabriel Milito, Argentinos Juniors could not close its participation in Group E with a smile and fell on Wednesday by 3-2 against Independiente del Valle, losing the undefeated and giving up the leadership of its zone, which will play the knockout stages of the Copa Libertadores with an opponent who has come out first. However, the coach of the Bicho learned of another bad news in the press conference: the expulsion of Santiago Montiel at the end of the match.
Despite having equalized the match twice, El Bicho ended up suffering the defeat on the hour to receive the final 3-2. When referee Wilmar Roldán marked the end, Montiel came to protest him for the added time and the referee did not hesitate to show him the red card, something that his teammate Fabricio Domínguez had already suffered, who went to the changing rooms a few minutes before.
As the match was already over, Milito never knew what had happened until he arrived at the press conference and a journalist warned him what happened to Santiago, cousin of world champion Gonzalo Montiel.
The reaction of the coach to the cameras summed up the attitude he would have seconds later. "Wasn't it yellow? Ah, it was expulsion. Poof...", sighed the coach with a face of unease. And after leaving a tense silence in the room, he immediately sentenced: "We will talk to Santi. What's more, I didn't think he had been expelled. He has to learn. It already happened against Platense; I thought I had learned. He repeated today. He will have to learn, and if not, he will suffer the consequences."
And invaded by the discomfort, the former coach of Estudiantes de La Plata continued to make public his disclaimer in front of the cameras. "This is high level. He is too young to be expelled for protesting. Either he learns and changes, or he will miss the train," he said fervently about the young man, in the form of an ultimatum.
Milito's anger with his player comes from before. It is not a consequence of a first-time attitude. It is that if you go back in time to what was the victory of Argentinos against Platense, a few weeks ago, you can find an almost identical situation. There, as happened in Ecuador, Montiel was sent off at the end due to an excessive celebration in the celebration of the goal in La Paternal.
Faced with this, his coach challenged him for his actions in the middle of the court while grabbing him by the shirt and shaking him from one side to the other.
However, the advice of Milito did not end up having the expected effect on the young man, something that the DT did not like at all because the Bicho is facing decisive instances and can not afford to give advantages.
Due to the expulsions of Montiel and Dominguez, Argentinos will not be able to count on both players in the first leg of the knockout stages of the continental tournament. Therefore, Milito must find a way to supplant two losses of great caliber in his squad.
The expulsion of Montiel in front of Platense
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