Before Chile became champion of the Copa America 2015, the team witnessed the great controversy that Arturo Vidal was involved in, when he crashed his luxurious car while driving drunk after returning from the Monticello Casino. A serious mistake that led the midfielder to apologize publicly and was close to being sanctioned.
One of those who saw this scandal from the inside was Jorge Valdivia, who was also one of those summoned by Jorge Sampaoli. Recently the former footballer recalled this incident and told details of how it was experienced from within the squad.
La Roja had managed to beat Ecuador, and secured a draw with the Mexican team, so the coach let the players free, and Vidal took advantage of it to spend time with his friends and went to play at the casino. According to El Mago, when they found out what had happened they prayed that the then Juventus player would not be sanctioned.
“Our only concern was Arturo. I don’t remember if he went with (Jorge) Desio or Seba (Beccacece), we told him ‘you have to support him, don’t even think about removing him from the national team,’” Valdivia recalled on the ESPN Fútbol Show.
Regarding the option of him being marginalized from the squad, Jorge said: “I don’t know if they doubted his continuity. I would dare say no, because Arturo and Sampaoli had a very good relationship, there was a lot of connection between them.”
“Beyond the importance he had on that team in terms of football or in the dressing room, I feel that Sampaoli understood that removing him from the National Team could generate something negative for us, What was going to mean that we became destabilized?”he added.
Finally, the sports commentator pointed out that “There was the virtue of Sampaoli and the squad that it was in the National Team to say ‘we stand side by side, shoulder to shoulder and move forward.'”
