Paredes apologises to Úbeda and Boca for Zeballos sub reaction | OneFootball

At Boca, there was a very bitter taste left by the defeat against Racing, but more because of the atmosphere created after Claudio Úbeda's decision to replace Exequiel Zeballos with Alan Velasco than the elimination itself. During the match, Leandro Paredes did not hide his annoyance at the decision and exposed the coach to the fans. However, during Tuesday's practice, the captain apologized for his gestures and put the incident behind him.

In the last training session before the holidays, the coach had a meeting with the entire team, and during it, the world champion asked to speak to clarify the situation. First, he apologized to Sifón for his reaction on the field; and second, he explained that his anger was not about Alan Velasco coming in, but about Changuito leaving, the most unbalancing player on the team in the last matches of this 2025.

With this leader-like attitude, Paredes sought to avoid a rift with his teammate, but at the same time, he gave strong support to the coach in front of everyone. At a time when his continuity was not yet confirmed and when he was being strongly criticized for a specific decision for the first time, the team's main figure gave him significant backing.

It is worth remembering that the captain himself had publicly praised Úbeda's work. "We are happy because he is doing very well. He is leading a group forward, a group of people as well, because he is very close to the player. We have a relationship similar to that with Lionel (Scaloni), and hopefully, the results will be similar to those we had with the national team," he had declared in a training session with media attention after the victory against River.

The truth is that the team's support for the coach was one of the factors that led Juan Román Riquelme to decide to continue with the coach in 2026. Now, only the meeting between the president, Marcelo Delgado, and Sifón remains to start planning the transfer market, finalize preseason details, and appoint a new assistant coach.

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