Banfield's defender and captain, Sergio Vittor, detailed the reasons for his teammates' absence from last Monday's training session, clarifying that it was not a strike. The 36-year-old player stated that it was an act of “empathy with the boys” and denied any bad relationship with the club's board of directors, headed by President Matías Mariotto. The statements came in the mixed zone after the “Taladro”'s 2-1 victory in the Clásico del Sur, which secured the club's place in Primera División. After a great sigh of relief from securing the Clásico and maintaining their category, defender Sergio “Chino” Vittor faced the press to clarify what happened at last Monday's training session. On that day, the players were absent as a form of protest over the three months of salary arrears some of them were suffering, training on their own or at private facilities. Regarding this situation, Vittor stated that it was an attempt to be empathetic with his teammates, as he claimed, out of the 30 teams in Primera División, they are “from the cheapest squads”. Going deeper, the center-back assured that some members of the squad “are affected” by not getting paid for a month's work, but he calmed the atmosphere by confirming that “it was not a fight or a strike”, mentioning that they were able to reach an agreement and that the club's president “responded wonderfully”, preventing the problem from escalating. Regarding the match, the former Independiente and Racing player joked by saying that classics are different, and that even if they had not trained for five days “the result would have been the same”, commenting later that they took the match “with the seriousness that was necessary”. Finally, Vittor clarified that “this Banfield is here to take it game by game”, valuing that they are now in “a nice situation” and gave his account of the night: “we saved ourselves from relegation, we got into the qualification zone and we won the classic against Lanús, who are in the Copa Sudamericana final. This is incomparable”.
