Bocha Batista on Paredes clash in Argentina v Venezuela: "He threw me off" | OneFootball

Fernando Batista, who ceased to be the coach of Venezuela after failing to qualify for the 2026 World Cup, regretted the clash with Leandro Paredes in the Vinotinto's 3-0 defeat against the Argentina National Team: "It threw me off. Leo is a boy I've known since he was eight years old and well...it hurt me".

"It hurt me, it tormented me, it was a situation that does not show who he is", Batista admitted in a conversation with DSports Radio and added: "There was talk of a Messifest and I played with that statement. We were playing against the best team in history, for a place in the World Cup, and we had to give strong motivation to our players. I apologize if they took it the wrong way".

On the other hand, the 55-year-old coach referred to the 6-3 defeat against Colombia, which left his former team out of the World Cup playoffs: "There was a lot of nervousness. When we got to the locker room, I didn't want them to find out about the result of Bolivia - Brazil (the locals won 1-0). My halftime technical talk was to calm them down. When they scored the 3 to 2, I think we entered that madness and Colombia entered calmness. We did everything we shouldn't have done".

In tune, he said he is still in a state of "sporting mourning" and recalled: "The only thing I wanted or that came out was to apologize to the Venezuelan people, to the players, to the federation. These are very ugly moments. There are tears, anger". Finally, he stated: "I apologize again. I know that at some point Venezuela will play in the World Cup".

Lastly, Bocha valued: "When we arrived, the players didn't want to go to the National Team. Today when they are not called up they regret it. We have projected almost 9 or 10 players for the changeover. Those are the future. I like to be in a place and leave something. Sometimes when you lose, you also leave things".

The Buenos Aires native, born in Villa Urquiza, was in charge of Venezuela for 28 matches, of which he won 9, drew 8 and lost 11. "Today Venezuela has many players on the radar that it didn't have before. We did a great job with the scouting. It seems that the final work is not useful, but I leave peacefully with that", he concluded.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.