Sebastián Battaglia seemed to add fuel to Boca’s fire: “I’ve never seen Ibarra with the intention of managing in the First Division”

“I never saw him with the intention of managing in the First Division or being where he is today”. The owner of the sentence is Sebastián Battaglia, predecessor of Hugo Ibarra at the Boca bank. A heavy blow to whoever leads the most popular team in Argentine football. From former playing partner during the glorious stage of Carlos Bianchi and those that came after. And also as a coach, in the management staff of Juan Román Riquelme.

The bomb phrase comes at a time when El Negro was left on the edge afterwards the hard defeat on Sunday against the Instituto alla Bombonera. Boos for several players and for DT touched Juan Román Riquelme’s pride and ego. And the coach’s future was conditional on what happens in the next match. Saturday against Olimpo in the Chacoin 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 awareness of those who have been close to him for many years and have perceived more than one sensation. “I don’t know if he’s in the place he wanted to be or if he really wanted to be in that place. We thought he had another position at the club or another function where he was a little more relaxed.”he added the most victories in Boca’s history with 20 titles, including 17 as a player and three as a manager, and the last one shared with Negro.

Today out of work since his departure from Boca following Libertadores’ elimination in the last 16 against Corinthians and having gone through very tense moments with Riquelme and the Football Council for the assembly of the team, Battaglia dared to make some kind of recommendation for the current coach. “Now I no longer have relations with Hugo, before he had the job of staying at the club all day and sharing a team but today he has the opportunity to lead the team and command Boca. I tell him to follow his intuition about him and follow his thoughts about him, that he is convinced of what he does. What he deems convenient for the team, that he can do, “he told him in an interview with Boca de selección, on Radio del Plata AM 1030.

And he completed: “He has to find regularity both at home and away, a way that allows him to feel safe. This is football and it can change from one day to the next.” Of course, when asked half jokingly and half seriously, the Lion didn’t dare advise the Negro to load petrol into a YPF… . You have to close the door and look ahead”.

At the same time, beyond the problems of managing the technical staff, Battaglia observes low footballing levels of players who have known how to be a figure, such as Darío Benedetto and Sebastián Villa. “Villa is a very unbalanced player and Benedetto is an impressive quality scorer. They just don’t have it today and the team feels it”.

The relationship with Riquelme and the party at Villarreal

Battaglia also referred to the “Legends Match” which will be played by Villarreal, in which he will participate Martin Palermo and Juan Roman Riquelme, and avoided getting into controversy. “I have not received an invite. I don’t have to be at this event, I don’t know if it’s the fault of people from Villarreal or outsiders, but it’s all right, no hard feelings, far from it. They are beautiful moments to share but it didn’t go like this”He added.

He even showed himself predisposed to rekindle a relationship with the vice president of Xeneize despite him and the Council being targeted by Battaglia’s farewell. “I would not feel uncomfortable if I shared a meeting with Riquelme. It would be nice to have an interview beforehand to clarify some things. I’d like to participate in the sacked match, but it’s his decision,” he concluded.