The last hours of Mayer Candelo and Darío ‘Chusco’ Sierra at Deportivo Cali were difficult to bear. On Wednesday, September 21, they witnessed the invasion of furious barrabravas to the field of the Doce Octubre stadium, from Tulua; and they were victims of the brutal attacks of the vandals, who claimed for the 2-0 defeat against Cortuluá and the last place in the standings.
This Thursday, Deportivo Cali announced that Candelo, “Chusco” and the rest of the coaching staff will not continue by mutual agreement, and that Sergio “Checho” Angulo will take over.
Nevertheless, ‘Chusco’ Sierra recounted the moments of anguish he experienced; concern for the integrity of the players and his friend Mayer; and the fear of seeing several fans enter the field with knives in their hands.
“We are facing when we begin to see that the fans who were in the eastern zone enter the field and come towards us. We worry a lot about Teo (Gutiérrez), because he is close to that sector of the field; that’s why Mayer yells ‘hey, watch out for Teo’. But seconds later they come towards us and surround Mayer and there I worried about his integrity, because there were many people around us, “Sierra said in conversation with RCN Radio.
Mayer and ‘Chusco’, seeing that the fans were approaching them, decided to stay put and wait for them, they did not run away to hide.
“What we think is ‘don’t run, it’s worse’. When one runs, it encourages blows. We did not run and decided to put the chest to the situation, we try to protect each other. Police officers acted quickly to control all that mob. The correct way was to stay there, we are not criminals to run away”, explained the ‘Chusco’.
Darío Sierra also revealed the scare when seeing barrabravas with sharp weapons: “One there, without being dramatic, feels attacked. Yes, there were people who entered the field of play with sharp weapons; We fear for our integrity. There were very young bald men who had to run to protect themselves, in the technical staff we have two women and one in the middle of that brawl thinks of everyone.