Francisco Maturana He was encouraged to touch on one of the thorniest issues in the history of Atlético Nacional, which has to do with the closeness that the drug trafficker would have had in the club. Pablo Escobar.
(You may be interested in: Falcao García sheds light on his future and does not forget Millonarios: ‘It depends on Serpa’s intentions’)
The entry of money from drug trafficking into clubs, through front men, was a modality that marked Colombian football, in a dark time in which there was not only an economic boom to hire players but there were threats, pressures of all kinds and influence on the results of the matches.
On June 19, 1991, the drug trafficker entered that luxurious prison, located in the village of La Miel in the municipality of Envigado.
Photo:
On that topic and the possible influence of the drug trafficker Pablo Escobar in the purslane cast, the coach spoke Francisco Maturanaa legend of Atlético Nacional and the Colombian National Team.
In dialogue with Kienyke, the coach said that he studied at the same school as the drug trafficker and that Escobar always gave him strength, but against Atlético Nacional, due to his fanaticism for Independiente Medellín.
(Also read: Falcao García sheds light on his future and does not forget Millonarios: ‘It depends on Serpa’s intentions’)
“When I was in the sixth year of high school, Pablo Escobar was in the fourth year of high school. Later, when we went out to play pool on Fridays, there was a place where the Nutibara hotel is, in La Macarena, there we found him playing pool and he Pablo Escobar was the pool player, so I have to know something about Pablo, because at that time in the squad, in the neighborhood, there was always a challenge and it was Nacional fans against Medellín fans, and Pablo was a staunch fan of Medellin,” he stated.
Francisco Maturana
Photo:
Maturana, who was the coach of Nacional in the conquest of the Libertadores of ’89, denied the influence that has been credited to Escobar in the history of the team. “If Pablo had wanted to do something for Nacional, I’m sure it would have been to destroy it, “I didn’t give anything for Nacional, but people come out with this story to minimize it and they don’t know who Pablo Escobar was.”
According to Maturana, it was not possible to know about Escobar’s criminal activities because he was, at the time, a recognized political leader: “He came through all the neighborhoods of Medellín putting up lighting for a field, he illuminated the Envigado field and thus giving away things, he was free to do all that, but from there to say that I would have been able to do something for Nacional, I think not, because then, as now, the rivalry was strong. Bad people come out with those types of stories that make no sense and I say it because I have no reason to hide absolutely anything,” he stated.
SPORTS
More sports news
#Franciso #Maturana #reveals #speaks #relationship #Pablo #Escobar #Atlético #Nacional
