On April 14, 2012, on the tenth date of the Clausura tournament,
Independiente
beat
Racing 4-1 in the Libertadores de América and put an abrupt end to
Alfio Basile
's career
as a coach. That day Coco decided not to direct anymore. And it was not because of the heavy defeat in a match as important as the Avellaneda classic, but because of an issue that went beyond football.
The story is known.
Teófilo Gutiérrez,
who had put the Academy ahead 26 minutes into the first half, was childishly sent off for "verbal excess" against referee Sergio Pezzotta at 23' of the second half, when his team was already losing 2-1, and in The locker room got into a big fight with Sebastián Saja. Then, he pulled a gun out of his bag.
A few days ago Basile told the complete anecdote. "I grab him (Teo), with his teammates, and we tell him: 'Don't think about fighting because they're going to look for you and throw you out, we have to win this game,'" he recalled in an interview with F90, a program from ESPN.
"When I arrive I see two of my players boxing him, then he takes the machine out of the bag and points it at me. A huge mess broke out,"
he added about the moment of the incident. And he stated:
"From that moment on I gave up football."
The Colombian's response did not take long to arrive. "I cried a lot because what happened was an injustice.
They didn't find anything. Where is (the gun)?
There was nothing, otherwise they would have shown it," the 38-year-old Real Cartagena forward told DSports.
🗣️ "My defense was that at that moment. #RACING 🎓 was a very beautiful stage of my life. I was a scorer. Teams from Europe came looking for me, but I didn't want to leave. The weapon never existed. It was an injustice."
🎙️ Teófilo Gutiérrez, former club player.pic.twitter.com/SV9isn23sO
— Paso a Paso RC (@PasoaPasoRC) March 28, 2024
In Racing the two versions of Teo Gutiérrez coexisted.
On the one hand, that of an attacker with great technique and goal: he closed his first stage in Argentine soccer that afternoon on the Independiente field with an interesting average of
20 goals in 40 games played.
On the other, the conflictive side of him. He was expelled four times and accumulated endless provocations.
"I was a scorer in Racing, but people stay with the last thing, with that episode.
Two, three teams from Europe came looking for me and I didn't want to leave out of gratitude for what they had done," analyzed the man who later became loaned to Lanús and Junior de Barranquilla before Cruz Azul bought his pass in December 2012.
"Racing was a very beautiful stage in my life. It opened doors for me in Argentina and worldwide," thanked the champion of the 2014 Copa Sudamericana and 2015 Libertadores with River.
After the praise came the criticism:
"It is a very sensitive club, its people are very sensitive, they want titles. The quality of players who arrive there and cannot exploit in every way...".
"It is a club to observe a lot, to learn a lot. I have always been left with my happiness, with my joys, with my goals in Racing, what the people loved me and what I built with many friends," he concluded.