Getafe president rejects Nigerian midfielder Chrisantus Uche's racism claims – 'He doesn't understand'
Getafe president Angel Torres followed assistant manager Patri Moreno in making the claims Chrisantus UcheAllegations of racial abuse should not be ignored. They say his supposed lack of understanding of Spanish means his version of events is unreliable.
This week, the Nigerian international gave an interview to ESPN Africa, saying that he had suffered racial slurs in La Liga. Moreno said Wednesday night that if he hadn't heard what Uche had said, “he must be wrong,” because he doesn't understand Spanish.
President Torres took the same line, instead of supporting his player.
“But he does not understand! How can he say that? When he has been here for one or two years and understands and speaks Spanish, he can say what he wants. We hope that the committees or those who correspond will understand,” said Torres Sport.
Clearly, Torres does not know or ignore the fact that Uche has played his football in Spain since 2022, first in Moralo in Extremadura and then in Ceuta, from where Getafe signed him. Uche also criticized the referees in his interview, and clearly fearing a ban, Torres also decided that Uche should not be heard because Spanish is not his native language.
“I don't want to justify him, but someone who doesn't speak Spanish and (who) puts the microphone in front of him… The journalist who asks him these things… (Uche says) well, what everyone hears, that l “referees are very bad and decide to say it alone”, justified Torres.
“My press officers are to blame for not being there and listening (during the interview) like the journalist asking this question to a child who arrived a month and a half ago. But hey, I'm talking to him and I'll listen to the interview… and I'll tell him that he's completely wrong. Although it's not the right question to ask a kid who just arrived, it's not justified that he should talk bad about the referees. or someone else's.
His answer is as surprising as that of Moreno in front of him, that he clearly has no knowledge of the past of the player he spent €500,000 to sign this February. The dismissal of his claims of racism, which should be investigated no matter what, suggests a wider attitudinal problem with racism that has reared its head at points in recent years. While more measures are taken, these attitudes clearly remain at the top.
