Two years have passed, the wounds begin to heal and the files are declassified. The calendar was knocking on the doors of March 2022 and the scandal hit Boca's again: in those days, after a heated discussion,
Sebastián Battaglia separated Agustín Almendra from the Xeneize professional squad
: "There was a complicated indiscipline," he explained in his moment the then coach of Boca.
"The posture was to be calm and transmit calm. Here there is a harmony within the squad that has to be respected and that is why decisions were made," said the biggest winner in Xeneize history as a player, when he was intercepted by the press in Aeroparque before of a team trip.
"It was an indiscipline that is complicated. We always wanted to help him, we were always available to everyone. But there is a certain limit, there are things that go to the side. We are on one track, whoever wants to be welcome is welcome," he concluded, without go into details of what had happened.
Battaglia was champion with Boca.Photo: Marcelo Carroll
As could be reconstructed at that time, it all began in training when Battaglia gave Almendra the substitutes' shirt and the footballer refused to be part of the team that was not a starter.
"If you don't like it, you leave
," Battaglia would have said, which generated the excessive reaction of the youth that would earn him departure for the Reserve.
A few days later, Almendra wanted to retrace his steps: "
I am sorry and I want to talk to Battaglia
," he apologized, but there would be no turning back in the coach-player relationship.
This Thursday, in the run-up to Good Friday, more will be known about that old dispute that ended with Agustín Almendra leaving the club free and signing with Racing.
Before in the stands, today on the playing field. Almendra is now in his house. pic.twitter.com/zv8RbNPde8
— Racing Club (@RacingClub) August 14, 2023
"The rules are there to be followed. If not, it's anything. Everyone does what they want. You are in a group and you are part of this. There is a head, a coach and a management part," says Battaglia in the preview of an interview that will be seen on Líbero Versus, this afternoon on TyC Sports.
Afterwards, the now technical director spoke of the encounter he had with the footballer: "As a player you won everything, but as a coach you are a disaster," he claims the footballer challenged him.
And he continued: "I'm going to say it because I don't have any problem. He told me that part and there is another part, where he tells me: 'You won four Libertadores by far'. Thank goodness, you only won four, ha...".
"Maybe they get their head from another place and confuse them, and they come to a training session thinking one thing that perhaps the coach thinks another. If I see that he is not doing well or doing things well, I have to choose. If not, what's the point? Are you there?", analyzed the DT from a more general level.