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There are five rounds left until the end of the Argentine Championship. Vélez Sarsfield is the leading team in the league, having a point advantage over the second-placed Huracán. In the last round, Vélez failed to win more than a point against Deportivo Riestra.
The match was played at the modest Guillermo Laza stadium and ended with a score of 1:1. Brian Romero scored his 12th goal of the season to give the visitors the lead at the end of the first half, while Nicolás Caro Torres made the final 1:1, 25 minutes before the end of the game.
This meeting was marked by a somewhat bizarre detail that happened at the very beginning. An incredible thing was done by Deportivo coach Cristian Fabbiani, who included the player with number 47, Ivan Buhajeruk, in the starting line-up. Known as Spreen in social media circles, he has more than 8 million subscribers on YouTube and 5 million followers on Instagram, without a second of football experience.
He signed a contract last year, seven days ago he started training with the Deportivo team. Against Vélez, Spreen played 50 seconds and then left the game. During that period, there was almost no play, because a foul was committed on a Vélez player who remained lying on the field. Ivan didn’t even manage to touch the ball before leaving the field
The club defended this trick as an incentive to their main sponsor, an energy drink company. The request came from club owner Victor Stinfale, who owns both the club and the energy drink company that sponsors it. Coach Cristian Fabiani wasn’t thrilled either, but due to contractual obligations, he was forced to make this move.
“It’s something in a contract that was signed a long time ago and the club depends a lot on publicity… it was probably a one-time thing,” said coach Fabbiani.
“The audience was in a state between laughter and disbelief. The fastest change in Argentine football will be remembered as a marketing move in the match between the league’s leading team and the ninth-placed club, which ended 1:1,” writes the Spanish sports newspaper.
“I’ve never seen anything like that. Unfortunately, it’s affecting Argentine football. Shame,” said the TYS Sports commentator.
