Buenos Aires, Argentina, Sept 16: Former Argentina coach Sergio Batista said Thursday he would sue Diego Maradona—another former Argentina coach—for accusing him of taking bribes from an agent to put certain players on the team.
Maradona said Wednesday in a television interview that player agent Carlos Mac Allister “offered me bribes” to put players on the team because he had done it with Batista and Batista's assistant Jose Luis Brown.
“When we took over the national team, the bribes ended,” Maradona said in an interview with TyC Sports.
Batista was coach of Argentina's youth team—including the 2008 Olympic team—when Maradona took over as national team coach late in 2008.
Maradona—now coach of Dubai club Al Wasl—was dropped as coach after the 2010 World Cup and succeeded by Batista.
Batista was fired two months ago following the Copa America and replaced by Alejandro Sabella.
“I'm going to court over this because this a false accusation,” Batista said Thursday in a television interview. “Nothing like this ever happened. I know him (Maradona) and we went through lots. This hurts.”
Maradona and Batista were teammates on Argentina's 1986 World Cup winning team.
“This could be resentment on his part in regard to the national team, but he knows well I had nothing to do with his not staying in the job,” Batista added. AP
