Formerly highly rated at Barcelona, Spain and Monaco, Roberto Moreno has denied some extraordinary allegations over his sacking at Russian side FK Sochi.
The Spaniard, who replaced Luis Enrique for eight games with the national team, saw his career tail off, heading to the obscurity of Russian Premier League for three seasons.
Sacked in August, Sochi’s sporting director, Andrei Orlov, has now claimed Moreno’s over-reliance on AI tool Chat GPT led to the decision.
In an interview with the Sports Russia website, Orlov recalled: “When we were preparing for the trip to Khabarovsk, Robert said: ‘I have everything planned. I’ve entered all the trip parameters into ChatGPT.’
“I looked at the presentation and saw that the players couldn’t sleep for 28 hours. I asked: ‘Robert, that’s all very well, but when are the lads going to sleep?’
“The players didn’t understand why we had to wake up at five in the morning to train at seven.”
Orlov then remembered an incident in the transfer market, saying: “We were looking for a striker, choosing between Vladimir Pisarsky, Pavel Meleshin and Artur Shushenachev.
“Moreno entered the data of the three players into ChatGPT and Shushenachev emerged as the best.”
Said striker went on to fail to find the net in 10 games.
Orlov finished: “An additional tool, why not? But for Moreno, GPT ended up becoming one of his main tools.
“In the end, the Russian core of the squad was very unhappy with Moreno, and the foreign players no longer trusted his ideas either.
“He showed no empathy for the assistants and players, and people felt that.”
It’s worth noting that Luis Enrique went on to sack Moreno as his Spain assistant upon returning from family tragedy, calling him ‘disloyal’ and ‘overly ambitious’.
Moreno has now responded to Orlov’s claims, telling AS: “The source of this information is a former club executive with whom I had professional differences that led to his departure.
“There is no official statement from FC Sochi confirming this version.
“I have never used ChatGPT or any AI to prepare matches, decide line-ups, or choose players. That is completely false.
“What I did do on a few occasions was use it for translations between Russian and Spanish, which is a language I don’t speak fluently. But that has nothing to do with sporting decisions.
“The signing they’re talking about was a process agreed upon by the club, the sporting director, and the entire medical staff. The player scored in the Cup and then suffered an injury that affected his future with the team, as happens in any club. But I wasn’t familiar with the Kazakh market, so the proposal came from the Sporting Directorate.
“My career in football began precisely with data and video analysis. It’s my specialization and what made the difference in my early days.
“Like any professional coaching staff, we use analytical tools: GPS, Wyscout, video, scouting platforms. Technology helps process information faster, but the coaching staff always makes the sporting decisions.”
Leave a Reply