Javi Casquero, a former Getafe CF midfielder now working as a commentator for DAZN and COPE, said on Monday that he had received more than 600 death threats and abusive comments after celebrating Getafe's win over Real Racing Club de Santander in the second matchday of LaLiga EA Sports.
Casquero said the total came to 637 death threats and vile comments directed at him and his family. He said the accounts posting them were anonymous but that each one left an IP address and a trail, and that efforts were already under way to track them down. He questioned why a match gets stopped over a single insult while abuse like this continues, asking until when it would go on.
How the dispute started
The row began when Casquero clashed publicly with his broadcasting colleague Angel Garcia Muniz, who brought up an incident from 2008, nearly two decades ago, when Casquero, then playing for Getafe, celebrated a goal against Racing Santander with unusual intensity. Casquero had previously played for Racing and left the Cantabrian club on bad terms. The celebration came during a passage of play in which Racing defender Ezequiel Garay was injured.
Responding to Garcia Muniz, Casquero said it was time to move past the incident, adding that, after all, this was football.
A viral post after Getafe's win
The exchange escalated after Getafe beat Racing Santander with a goal scored in the closing stages of the match. Casquero then posted a message reacting to the result, writing that the night had turned out well after all. The post quickly went viral, drawing hundreds of replies, many of them from angry Racing supporters.
Threats and insults
One of the most repeated replies referenced a moment when Real Madrid defender Pepe kicked Casquero in the back during a match, with some users attaching a photograph of the incident. Other replies moved straight to personal insults, including threats aimed at Casquero should he travel to Santander for the return fixture.
One user told him he would be made to pay, using a derogatory term for a woman. Another called him human garbage and said a reckoning, referred to in Spanish as his "San Martin," was coming. Several other users called him sneaky and disgusting, while others dared him to repeat his comments to their faces in Santander.
Background
LaLiga EA Sports is Spain's top football division. Getafe CF, based just south of Madrid, and Real Racing Club de Santander, one of Spanish football's oldest clubs, both compete in the league this season. Casquero built his playing career partly at both clubs before moving into broadcasting after retirement.
