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.

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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.

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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”.

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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.

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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.”

In the document that contains her testimony, after giving the above account the alleged victim was then asked whether this was a “memory or a nightmare” by the prosecutor.

She replied: “I had nightmares and then I called the person who was treating me at the time, and with the sessions I had I started to remember.”

The alleged victim was then asked whether she remembered the details of the abuse while she was in therapy. She replied: “No, I was remembering it and the therapy helped me to clarify the situations.”

She was asked again whether these three men had had non-consensual relations with her. She replied: “Yes. Gonzalo, and when he left, the other two people. At one point Gonzalo left the room. That’s the last thing I remembered about the abuse, I don’t know if I blacked out afterwards.”

Asked by the public prosecutor if she remembers leaving the room. She said: “I don’t know how I got to that room because I couldn’t have got there by myself.”

Asked whether she knew if the bedroom was in the house where the party was taking place, she replied: “I really don’t know.”

Asked what was her next recollection of the alleged abuse she said: “When I was lying in the street.”

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The alleged victim was then asked whether she was able to identify or describe the other two men who allegedly raped her.

She replied: “I don’t know. One was about his age because of the way he spoke and the other looked a little older and that they were dark-haired.”

The alleged victim said also that, the day after the alleged rape, she contacted Montiel.

She said she “asked him to please tell me what happened” and that in reply, “he lied to me because he told me I had been with someone, as if to say that I was intentionally with someone”.

She said their conversation continued as she “asked him with whom”.

She said: “At first he said he couldn’t tell me, and then he threw a name at me as if to get me off his back and he says Alexis Acosta. I was looking for Alexis on social networks and I never found anyone with those characteristics.”

Alexis Acosta is the other individual under investigation by prosecutors in relation to the alleged rape. He has not yet testified, but his legal representatives told The Athletic he strongly denies any involvement in any alleged crime.

Prosecutors have so far only placed Montiel and Acosta under investigation, but they believe “one or two” more individuals may also have been allegedly involved.

In his testimony, Montiel said he does not know Acosta.

In her testimony, the alleged victim says she was told by Montiel and members of his family that Acosta was a neighbour.

The alleged victim also described how the text conversation she had with Montiel ended on January 2. She said a family member then contacted her directly.

“Clearly he passed my mobile phone number to her. I asked her what happened to me, to which she replied: “They raped you, mamita, get yourself some ‘ovulos’ (vaginal suppositories to treat infection).”

The alleged victim also claimed that this family member came to her home, and warned her not to make a complaint against Montiel because “it would cause him problems with River Plate”.

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When she was interviewed by prosecutors, the alleged victim was also questioned by Montiel’s lawyer.

Montiel was only questioned by prosecutors. According to the prosecutor’s office, this is standard local practice.

At what stage is the investigation now?

According to the prosecutor in charge of the case, the case is active and Montiel and Acosta remain under investigation. The prosecutor said testimony and evidence is still being gathered and they are planning to speak with several more witnesses from the party in January 2019. They said Montiel himself may also be called again to testify.

In the event that no charges are brought, the prosecutor’s office also said the alleged victim could be charged with a crime of false testimony, if they believe there is sufficient evidence to support that.

In the event that the prosecutor’s office decides there is sufficient evidence to ask a judge to bring charges, and those charges are indeed brought, the case would proceed to trial. In Argentina, punishment for the crime of rape ranges from six months to 20 years’ imprisonment, “depending on the ages of the perpetrator and victim, their relationship, and the use of violence, among other factors”, according to a United States Department of State human rights report.

(Top photo: Ulrik Pedersen/Defodi Images via Getty Images)

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