The images are horrifying and have gone around the world. The sport is ashamed of the pitched battle at the La Corregidora Stadium in Querétaro between a group of fans from the local team and another from Atlas, a part of the war with a balance yet to be confirmed. “Nobody could imagine it, it was crazy,” explains Marcos Reina, a Spanish coach who spent four years (2016-2020) in the Mexican league as Paco Palencia’s assistant at clubs like Lobos, Pumas and Mazatlán.. “On a small scale I had experienced some battle between fans. I remember a Veracruz against Tigres or a Rayados against Tigres”, he recalls.
“It is a reflection of a part of society. There are two Mexicos. These are gang members in soccer jerseys,” he adds. During his time in the Mexican league, the coach explains that “I never had a feeling of danger, one knows where there are conflictive areas and where it is better not to go because there can be risk there”. That happened, for example, to Víctor Vázquez, a former Barcelona player, who decided to leave Cruz Azul after suffering a robbery. “It’s not where I want my kids to grow up,” he said.
Reina also recalls another case with a Lobos player who was threatened at gunpoint after seeing him park his Porsche Cayenne. Leaving the supermarket, he was robbed. “One of the things they tell you is not to show off,” he says. “Although on the bench many times you don’t find out everything that happens in the stands, I didn’t experience too many episodes of fights in the stands. Atlas is one of the most exciting fans, his stadium is one of the most special, with a lot of noise”, he explains.
For Reina there is a key aspect, and it is “the little respect that is shown to the Police”. The coach, who is now starting a new stage at the Oakland Roots in the United States, argues as follows: “The police often stop you to get money, to earn bribes, that’s why many people don’t respect them and make fun of them.” The images of the passivity of the state security forces in Querétaro are an example.
“When these types of battles happened, obviously on a smaller scale, the president talked about changing the security protocols. Let’s see if it really happens now “Reina expects, a small part of the many Spaniards who have passed through the Mexican league and who raised their hands to their heads with the unfortunate incidents on Saturday.
