“I never saw him with the intention of directing in the First Division or being in the place where he is today”. Strong, a hard low blow to who is in charge of the most popular team in Argentine soccer. From a former partner as a player during the glorious stage of Carlos Bianchi and those that came after. And also as a coach, as part of the management staff of Juan Román Riquelme. From Sebastian Battaglia to Hugo Ibarra. With little love
The bombshell phrase comes at a time when El Negro was left on a tightrope after Sunday’s tough defeat against Instituto at La Bombonera. The whistles for several players and for El Negro reached Juan Román Riquelme. And the future of DT was subject to what happens in the next game, on Saturday against Olimpo in Chaco, in the xeneize debut in the Argentine Cup.
Battaglia, who held the position before Ibarra both in Reserve and in Primera de Boca, seems to speak with the knowledge of someone who was close to him for many years and perceived more than a sensation. “I don’t know if he is in the place he wanted to be or if he really wanted to be in that place. We thought that he had another position at the club or another function where he was a little more relaxed.”added the most winner in the history of Boca with 20 titles, between 17 as a player and three as a coach, and the last one shared with Negro.
Today without work since his departure from Boca after the elimination in the round of 16 of the Libertadores ane Corinthians and having gone through very tense moments with Riquelme and the Council for the assembly of the team, Battaglia dared to make a kind of recommendation for the current coach. “I tell him to follow his intuition and to follow his thinking, who is convinced of what he does. Whatever he deems convenient for the team, he can do it, “said Seba, with knowledge of the facts. And he completed:” he has to find regularity both at home and as a visitor, an operation that allows you to feel safe. This is football and it can change from one day to the next”. Of course, when they asked him a little jokingly and a little seriously, the Lion did not dare to advise Black to load gasoline in a YPF… ” Ha, let’s not train on that and stuff. Mine was given that way and that’s it. You have to close the door and look ahead.”
in a slump
At the same time, beyond the management issues of the coaching staff, Battaglia observes low football levels of players who knew how to be a figure, such as Darío Benedetto and Sebastían Villa. “Villa is a very unbalanced player and Benedetto is a scorer with impressive quality. They simply aren’t having it today and the team feels it.”
