In 2005, Argentine coach Rubén Omar Romano was kidnapped. This happened when he was leaving the Cruz Azul training facility, 'La Noria', in Mexico City. The coach usually left alone, which allowed the kidnappers to ambush him. 'I thought it was a robbery, but they pulled me out of the vehicle,' Romano recalled. Due to the quick exit, he didn't apply the handbrake properly, and the truck kept moving, which was the last thing he saw for a long time. Immediately after being captured, they blindfolded him, and he remained with that blindfold for over two months. The kidnappers put him in the trunk of another car and then took him to a safe house, where he would remain in captivity for 65 days. Romano noted that his captors saw an opportunity to demand a ransom directly from Cruz Azul, not from him personally. He did not suffer physical violence but was subjected to psychological pressure. They forced him to lie to his daughters during the rare phone calls he was allowed to make. During his entire captivity, he was kept in a room on a mattress on the floor, blindfolded and with his hands and feet tied. He heard the news and even Cruz Azul games on television, as his captors would sometimes play them. During the ransom negotiations, the kidnappers made a mistake that allowed authorities to pinpoint his location. The Federal Investigation Agency collaborated with the family in the negotiations. On the day the kidnappers planned to move Romano to a different location, they were intercepted by armed men. An hour after his release, a press conference was held. Three days later, Romano returned to the field and, although he hadn't planned to coach, he ended up doing so: 'I couldn't just be sitting there as an assistant,' he said.
