Javier Correa fires up Chilean clásico: "Talk on the pitch, no hype" | OneFootball

The pre-match build-up to the classic between Universidad de Chile and Colo-Colo was marked by an unexpected controversy between Marcelo Díaz, captain of the blue team, and Javier Correa, forward of the "Cacique".

Everything started at the press conference of "Chelo" Díaz, when in response to a question from the journalists he stood up from his chair and made a comment with a laugh: "Why are you looking down?"

The gesture was interpreted as a taunt towards the eternal rival, who is in the tenth position of the tournament, far from the fight to enter international cups.

The words quickly reached the albo camp, where Correa did not hold back in his response: "We talk about peace and being an example, but then he shows his true colors in the question they asked him. To be brave here, it's great, but when he's face to face he never told me anything. We empathize, they don't. Against Fortaleza they mocked saying they are different. You have to talk on the field and not sell smoke," the Argentine forward said, visibly upset.

In response to the harshness of the statements, Díaz quickly sought to clarify what happened and defuse the conflict, as Correa's statements are due to the incidents that the "U" had in its match against Independiente for the Copa Sudamericana in which according to the "Cacique" forward they empathized unlike Universidad de Chile when they had the incidents against Fortaleza in which they suffered sanctions.

In a conversation with Radio ADN, the former Racing midfielder explained: "They have wanted to generate a conflict where there is none. The journalist who asked me the question was looking down and I asked him why. A stir was created by that gesture. Everything is fine with Correa, he did not listen to my conference and they transmitted something different to him."

Even the "U" reference confirmed that he personally called Correa to clarify things: "He told me that's it, that it was badly answered, but everything came from a journalist who sought to generate conflict. It's already there," said the 38-year-old midfielder.

"We come from a week with a lot of violence, the last thing we want is more problems, especially with our classic rival. The dispute should be on the field," added Díaz, in a message of de-escalation.

In this way, although the controversy heated up the pre-match, both Díaz and Correa agreed to lower the tone to prevent the atmosphere from overflowing before the Superclásico this Sunday at the Monumental in Santiago.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.