Argentina’s World Cup hero Gonzalo Montiel and the rape allegations he denies
Warning: The following article contains details of alleged sexual abuse, which some readers may find distressing.
Nottingham Forest’s new signing Gonzalo Montiel scored the penalty that secured the World Cup for Argentina in December.
In late May, he scored the winning spot-kick as Sevilla beat Roma in the Europa League final shootout.
In June, he was interviewed by Buenos Aires prosecutors investigating an alleged rape of a young woman at a party at his house in January 2019.
Montiel, 26, is one of two male suspects under investigation over the alleged crime.
Back in January 2019, Montiel was playing for Argentine club River Plate. He joined Sevilla in 2021. Now he has arrived in the Premier League with Nottingham Forest.
In this article, we explain the details of the allegation he is facing.
There are a few important things we’d like to mention to readers here.
We wanted to approach the allegations in a legally correct manner. We spoke with Montiel’s representatives, and the lawyer acting on behalf of the alleged victim. We read official documents, processed by the Buenos Aires public prosecutor’s office, that included testimony from Montiel and the alleged victim. We also spoke directly with the prosecutor in charge of the case.
We sent a list of questions to Nottingham Forest, asking what they understood of the case and whether it had any bearing on their decision to sign him, on loan from Sevilla.
The Premier League club replied with the following short statement: “The club has conducted due diligence and we are fully satisfied following conversations with his representatives.”
Forest have been in touch with Montiel’s lawyer. However the alleged victim’s lawyer and the Buenos Aires prosecutor’s office investigating the alleged rape both said Forest have not contacted them.
It should also be noted here that, if this was a police investigation in the UK, details such as those below would have to remain private unless someone had been charged, but that’s not the case in Argentina, where this is already in the public domain.
What is alleged to have happened?
What Montiel has said
In the early hours of January 2, 2019, during the celebration of Montiel’s 22nd birthday at his home in Virrey del Pino on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, a young Argentine woman arrived at around 2am or 3am, alone, where friends and family members of the footballer were already gathered. She had been invited to the party by Montiel.
In a statement made to Buenos Aires prosecutors in June, which The Athletic has seen, Montiel said that he and the woman had “a few months ago” had consensual sex. He said on the night of his party celebrating his birthday on January 1, he paid for an Uber for her and once she arrived he introduced her to “the girls who were there”.
That night, according to the complaint lodged by the alleged victim, she was allegedly raped by three male individuals. Two of them she was not able to identify, one she identified as Montiel. In her statement to prosecutors, the alleged victim also said that she suspected her drink had been spiked.
Montiel has denied any involvement in an alleged rape.
According to his statement to prosecutors in June, during the night of the party he was coming and going from the house, driving to buy alcohol and other drinks, and to collect and bring more friends.
According to Montiel, at 6am, one of his friends was feeling unwell and so he gave him a lift home. When he returned, he said, he found the alleged victim “screaming, angry and saying that it was all my fault because I hadn’t looked after her”. He said he “didn’t understand what she meant”.
Montiel said those at the party told him that another man had taken the alleged victim to his house, and that before that they “had been in my dad’s car, which was parked outside the house”. Montiel said he did not know this man. He said he was told that the alleged victim had gone with him “voluntarily”.
When prosecutors asked Montiel why he thought the complainant has alleged he raped her he said he “does not know. But it brought shame on my whole family”.
Prosecutors also asked whether he had been in contact with the woman immediately following the party. Montiel replied that he could not remember if it was the next day or the day after, but that they had been in touch and that it had been “a normal conversation”.
Montiel also said they had not had any communication since then, but that “a few months ago” his representative told him a lawyer had called to ask to discuss “the issue of sexual abuse”.
What the alleged victim has said
The woman went to a police station on January 2 to report the alleged crime to police. At that time, she said she could not remember anything about the alleged crime but that she had been told she had been raped.
According to prosecutors, she was not able to name or describe any of the men who allegedly raped her because she could not recall anything of what had happened.
Following her report to police, prosecutors said they asked to speak with her for more information about the alleged crime. They said she did not respond, and as a result the case was closed.
The case was reopened this year, they said, “as a result of public appearances made by the complainant”. In this instance they are referring to TV reports in which the alleged victim spoke anonymously.
“This information was picked up by the prosecutor’s office in mid 2023 and the complainant was summoned again to ratify what she had said in the media,” prosecutors said.
According to her testimony to prosecutors, which was conducted earlier this month, in the four years since the alleged rape she has been able to recollect certain details, helped by psychological therapy. Her testimony was made via video call because of “fear and threats, because everything has been made public”, she said.
She told prosecutors that she recalls being given something to drink at Montiel’s party and soon afterwards feeling dizzy, which she first attributed to the effects of alcohol. She recalls then going to the bathroom and, when leaving, coming across Montiel, to whom she had sent a WhatsApp message asking for help, for him to take her home.
She said she then remembers being in a bedroom but without knowing how she got there.
She said: “I remember lying on a bed. I don’t remember a characteristic of the room, but I remember sensations, that it was a room with a bad smell, a damp smell and an ugly smell.
“I remember Gonzalo over me and he was obviously abusing me because it was sex that I hadn’t consented to and it was rough, not like in his house when we had consensual sex.
“Then I remember two more people, who were men, and I remember comments like ‘what a nice thing you brought’. I know that these people had been at the party because of the way they spoke to each other. They were friends of his.”
