Neri Castillo brought up an old grudge against Romanian coach Mircea Lucescu just hours before he died at the age of 80 in a Bucharest hospital. Lucescu fainted during training in Romania on April 2nd and was unable to recover and was taken to the hospital.
A few hours before Lucescu’s death, Neri Castillo published a controversial article on his official Instagram account, bringing up an old personal dispute that the former player had with his coach at Shakhtar Donetsk from 2007 to 2009, which subsequently affected him throughout his sporting career.
“I’m glad your son visited you and was there for you during this difficult time you were going through. He didn’t let you be with him when his mother fell into a coma, and he didn’t let you say goodbye at her funeral. I hope you recover and be well with your family,” Castillo wrote on his social networks, along with an emoji of hands clasped together in prayer.
The sad thing about this story is that Lucescu passed away just hours after the story was published. This reality between the two was unknown, but Castillo talked about it often, as he felt the pain of not being with him in his final moments.
In various interviews over the years, Neri mentioned the incident, which still causes her pain. “My father called me from Uruguay and told me that my mother had fallen into a coma. At that time I was in Greece, so I flew straight to Uruguay on the same December 29th. I had to return to Ukraine on January 7th to resume training with Shakhtar,” Castillo explained.
Before returning to Europe, the former player tried to convince Lucescu to give him more time with his family. “I called my coach and said, “My mother is dying, please let me stay in Uruguay for a little while longer.” ”
Castillo adds more pain to his words as he recalls that moment. “I asked Lucescu for permission to go to Uruguay for the funeral, but he didn’t allow it. I didn’t see my mother’s last moments or her funeral. These are things that people don’t know. I didn’t see her die, I didn’t go to her funeral,” he said, detailing his “grudge” against the Romanian coach.
