(Translated mostly with DeepL)

The story is chilling. Gianluca Prestianni tells the story in a cracked voice. He is still in shock. Not 24 hours have passed since Velez’s 1-0 defeat against Huracan on the last day of the Professional League, let alone the tense moment he had to spend with the rest of his teammates at the Villa Olimpica after the match. There, when they were about to go home, they were intercepted by the barra brava (ultras) of his own team, and the 17-year-old player was one of those who had the worst time: he received two blows to the face.

“We arrived at the Villa Olímpica, they crossed our cars and hit us. When I rolled down the window they shouted at me and hit me twice in the face. They grabbed my neck and my jacket,” the striker told ESPN. However, a few minutes after the interview with the F90 programme, in which he was seen grieving and in which he implied that he will be looking for a way out in the current transfer market (Benfica is one of the destinations mentioned), he received a death threat.

According to Doble Amarilla, he was warned not to leave his home for any activity. “First of all, I would like to ask you to have a little respect and understand the situation we are going through with my family. The truth is not good at all, we are really very sad and scared by everything we are going through at the moment. I really want to apologise to the Velez fans,” he tweeted.

“Velez is a beautiful club that has always given us everything in all areas and now this is happening and we don’t like it at all. I’m scared, like my teammates. Many didn’t want to go home (…) we don’t know what will happen next time”, he added in his account.

The violent attack by the barras on the squad had consequences for the players and there are several who do not rule out leaving because this intimidating act had logical consequences in terms of the reaction of some players.