Source: ESPN

The pair were together at club side Universidad de Chile under manager Jorge Sampaoli from 2011 to 2013, and Lorenzetti recounted Marino’s excuse in great detail.

“Guillermo is a friend who football gave me, like Mati Rodriguez,” Lorenzetti told Lado B. “Regarding this [story] that Guille wants me to tell, the truth is that I doubt [whether I should tell you] because he is going to receive calls from channels of other information and not from sports but I will explain it because he asked for it.

“He says that he arrived late to one training because he was abducted by aliens. He gave us the entire explanation of what he felt and the rest of it.

“There are cases where the player says: ‘I left and I came back two days later because I was kidnapped by aliens.’ But Guille is not that kind of player. Guille was a very proper guy. Everyone knows Guille Marino.

“He started to explain that he was suddenly lost and abducted by aliens. He explained that they take out your soul, analyse it and all the while on the journey they are looking after you. He said something like that.

“Honestly, I believe in aliens. He gave a great explanation and we will have to believe him. I don’t know other types of channels will have to call him so he can tell it better. But in any case: he was abducted by aliens.

Asked whether he believed what Guillermo said: “I believed in him because he tells you that way and if you know him, you realise that he is a serious person. He [is the kind of person who] will not be late anywhere, he is very correct.

“He explains it to you. He is a big believer. He reads books about it so I didn’t have other option but to believe him, because with the seriousness that he told it to us, we have to believe him.”

Lorenzetti could not say for sure, however, whether Sampaoli shared his belief Marino was telling the truth.

“I don’t know if Guille would have told [Sampaoli] the same story, honestly. They must have had a chat afterwards to explain it to him,” he added. “But knowing Guille, I think he must have believed him.

“What can you say? This is worthy of the Discovery [Channel] or some of those channels.”

Source: ESPN