Cádiz player Juan Cala spoke to more than 50 media outlets by video link from the press room at the Ciudad Deportiva.
Cala began by setting out the facts of what happened in the Cádiz - Valencia game: “It all starts with a corner for Valencia. Diakhaby falls onto me and I take a knock, I demand a foul while he tells me to get up, and that’s the end of it. Then comes the goal, the card and an unfortunate moment with a foul in our favour when we tangle again and I take another knock, I fall and demand a foul like everyone does. I tell him to leave me in peace and I carry on. He misunderstands and comes towards me telling me to calm down, I tell him to calm down, telling him I hadn’t said that and the situation gets very heated. I think it’s about getting me booked a second time, I stay out of it watching what might happen, looking to see what the referee decides. He books the Valencia player who reacts angrily. Then the unfortunate images of Gabriel Paulista repeating what his team mate told him. I’m left looking stunned and we all saw what happened next. That’s my position. I never said ‘negro de mierda’ (‘black shit’), I didn’t say it to him and that’s pretty clear.”
Cala continued, focusing on what happened next: “If there’s a Cádiz player who speaks to a Valencia player asking whether if I say sorry we can start playing again, I’ll quit football. It’s not true. It’s a media circus what I’ve been subjected to over the past two days. I’ve been subjected to a witch-hunt. After seeing the disgraceful video of the president with his player by his side, I hope that the president, when he finished the video, went straight to the police station to file a complaint against me because that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to take action against him.”
The Cádiz defender carried on, answering all the questions put to him: “What I think in the first place is that he’s looking for the second yellow card, when I try to calm him down and explain what happened, that’s when what could be seen was a player urging [his team] to leave the pitch when it looked like he was calm, the referee books him and things could have been a lot simpler. We’re professional footballers, get the two of us together in front of the referee and we’ll talk through what happened. That would have been the solution. What’s clear is that I try to calm him down. I try to make him see I had not said it. I see players going from one side to the other, the ruckus that happened, everything we saw. There are more than 20 cameras, microphones, 22 players, three officials, nobody heard it. Nobody says they heard it.”
Asked about the moment play was stopped, Cala continued giving his version of events: “The only person from Valencia who comes to speak to me is the pitch side delegate, who asks me what happened. I told him it’s a scene, it’s embarrassing. I’m in a state of shock. Then in the dressing room what happened happened, nobody from Valencia says anything to me. I’ve been a professional for 12 years, I’ve seen a thousand things all around the world. I don’t have any issue with sitting down with him in a room. After the circus that’s gone on and this witch-hunt I’ve been put through without any proof. I’ve been judged before the game finished and without my side of the story being heard. People are using it to get into the limelight, to win votes. I don’t have any problems. That’s what should have happened. We’re hurting Spanish football, there’s no racism between the players in Spanish football. I’m not a journalist, as soon as the game finished I met with the president and I told him I wanted to come out straight away and he recommended I didn’t, that I’d already been judged, that everything I was going to say would be used against me, that I’m innocent and it would all be cleared up. I’ve come out to speak when Cádiz CF believed it was the right time. I’m an employee of Cádiz and I’m here.”
Final conclusion: “I’ll take legal action against everyone who has attacked my reputation. I’m deeply moved because since it happened I’ve received hundreds of message and calls from former teammates, teammates, sporting directors, entrepreneurs, suppliers, my squad. I’m happy to be a part of the family I belong to. I’d like to publicly give thanks for the support I’ve received in these difficult times. I have to thank my club, the board, my teammates, my coach, everyone. There’s never been any player in my footballing career who could accuse me of what I’m being accused of, and if there is someone who can accuse me of it then, please, come out and say it.”
