Venezuela national team head coach Fernando Batista shared his thoughts on the upcoming away match against Argentina in the CONMEBOL World Cup 2026 qualifying stage.
Publika.az reports that he particularly spoke about the opposing team's leader Lionel Messi.
"We will face the best team in the world. From the beginning, we knew that this could be Leo’s last official qualifying match in Argentina. In any case, we are not only facing him but also head coach Lionel Scaloni, who has built a proper structure for the team.
My idea is always the same, to think about the opponent's goal. Only defending does not yield results in the long term. I don’t know how many coaches have already tried to figure out how to stop Messi. We will try as well. I am here to cast a little shadow on Messi’s festival, in a good way. We respect every detail of this event, but our main goal is to directly qualify for the World Cup or at least secure a chance for the playoffs."
It should be noted that the Argentina – Venezuela match will take place on the night of September 5 in Buenos Aires. The 38-year-old Messi had announced that this could be his last home game in his national team career.
