Universidad de Chile president Federico Valdes has affirmed that he will do everything in his power to stop Eduardo Vargas leaving the club in January, also urging his team to ignore the supposed ‘Curse of the Estadio Nacional’ that has afflicted Chilean teams in Santiago.
Vargas scored the only goal in Thursday evening’s 1-0 victory over Liga de Quito in Ecuador, which gives the U the upper hand for next Wednesday’s second leg in the Nacional. It was the star’s ninth goal of the tournament, and he will need just one more in the final match to break the all-time Sudamericana scoring record.
Speaking the day after his side’s impressive victory, Valdes recognised that it would not be easy to stave off interest from suitors such as Chelsea, Inter and Zenit St. Petersburg; but that he and his colleagues would do their best to keep him for 2012.
“We are going to do everything possible, but this will have to be resolved with concrete offers, which are irrestistable for the club and the player; because they are contracts that will set him up for life… we will do all we can to hold on to him,” the president explained, although he insisted that he would act rather more strongly to keep coach Jorge Sampaoli in Santiago: “We are going to tie Sampaoli down with barbed wire and we are not going to let him go anywhere!”
Valdes concluded by referring to the mythical ‘Curse of the Nacional’. Popular legend tells that Chilean teams have been cursed playing in the stadium due to its use as a torture centre in the era of dictator Agustin Pinochet, and no less than six international semi-finals have been lost since 1973 by the home team.
“A lot is said about this curse and other things that should not worry us, but they also create an atmosphere which we should be very ready for to finish this final task,” the chief stated.
Universidad are back in action on Sunday, when they play Union Espanola in the second leg of their Clausura semi-final.