Milito on Costas' Racing sacking: «The squad needs a fresh start» | OneFootball

The club president said the coach’s departure was “almost a mutual decision.” Meanwhile, fans gathered in the area around the Cilindro and lashed out at the board.

Racing is going through its hottest hours of the year. Diego Milito broke his silence at a press conference after the bombshell dismissal of Gustavo Costas and, at the same time, fans gathered in the area around the Cilindro. Meanwhile, Chirola Romero and Luciano Aued will take charge of the squad for the next two matches.

“A sad day, one we never thought could come. It’s football. Truly, like all the fans, we are saddened by this situation,” was the first thing the club president said on Sunday morning.

He also explained how they made the decision to bring the iconic Racing coach’s spell to an end. “Yesterday we had a talk with Gustavo, with Saja. Very sincere, very deep, analyzing the semester, the last few matches. In that conversation, which lasted almost an hour, we understood that it was a moment… Because we’re football people… The feeling was that, with everything that had been happening, it was the end of a cycle. Gustavo agreed as well. We’re football people. We felt it,” he said.

“This squad needs a change of scenery, fresh air. Everything that has happened in the last few matches shows a bit of what we’ve been feeling and living through since the clásico onward. Unbelievable things have happened. They back up what I’ve been saying. It was the end of a cycle. It hurts me to say it. It’s a tough moment. I think it was something that had to be done; this group was asking for it, and everything we had been going through pointed to it. It’s been a tough, bad semester. We are all responsible. Me first, as club president,” he added.

Milito also said he has “a great relationship” with the Racing idol and that they have “been very close to him over this year and a half.” However, he also delivered a very strong self-criticism over Racing’s current situation, after reaching the Apertura quarterfinals and being eliminated from the Copa Sudamericana in the group stage: “This semester has really been very difficult. I think those of us who are football people felt that it was time for these guys to have a change of scenery.”

On the other hand, he said the dismissal “was almost a mutual decision” and that they felt “we had to ease the pressure, that something wasn’t working and they needed a change of scenery.” He added: “It was something that imposed itself. We both felt that. It hurts me. We have a great relationship. We were always there, in difficult times and in the good ones too.”

Milito also expressed discomfort over the news leaking on Saturday: “I met with Gustavo shortly after midday. The meeting lasted about an hour. We agreed to speak with the squad today, to communicate it. He asked me, the conversation happened… We had to let some steam out of this pressure cooker. He told me he agreed, that we would meet this morning and communicate it to the players and make a joint statement. In the afternoon I found out it was everywhere. That’s what happened. It surprised me. I spoke about it this morning. It came out like that. It didn’t come out in the best way. Today we are hurt by this situation. We have to look ahead.”

Milito also said they will have no trouble reaching an agreement to terminate his contract (which ran until December 2028). “He told me there would never be a problem. I told him we would speak with his agent. He told me: ‘Don’t worry about that issue, there won’t be any problem from me,’” he explained.

“He did feel that the squad needed a lot of renewal. Renewing a squad isn’t easy. But it wasn’t a condition. What we both felt was that it was a moment when we had to interrupt this cycle, that it couldn’t go on and they needed a change of scenery,” said the Racing president.

Sebastián “Chirola” Romero and Luciano Aued will take charge of the team for the last two matches of the semester. On Wednesday they will face Independiente Oriente in their Sudamericana farewell, and on Sunday, May 31, they will take on Defensa y Justicia in the Copa Argentina round of 32, another crucial knockout match before the second half of the year.

After that, Milito and his board will work on finding Costas’s replacement. “Naturally, we’ll take the necessary time. I’ll meet with Sebastián and the board to plan and look at the profile of the next coach,” he said, without giving any clues. Hernán Crespo is the main target, while Nico Diez and Guillermo Barros Schelotto are also on the radar.

Meanwhile, fans organized themselves for a banner rally in support of Costas and exploded against the board. “Don’t mess with Racing,” “call elections, you motherf***er,” “the board can go to hell,” and,

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