Buenos Aires, Jul 20: Diego Maradona has taken a dig at his former teammate and Argentina's national football team's coach Batista and said that had he been at the latter's position then he would have quit.

He was referring to Argentina's early exit from the Copa America 2011.

The Argentine legend's statement comes after the national football association said that it will persist with Batista despite the Copa America 2011 quarter-final loss to Uruguay. But Maradona feels that the decision is a wrong one.

Speaking to Radio Belgrano, Maradona said, "If I had only beaten Costa Rica, (Argentina's sole Copa success) I would have gone of my own accord."

And added, "What is happening right now is not the fault of the players. Julio Grondona is doing just what he likes." It can be recalled that during his tenure as Argentina's coach Maradona has had frequent show-downs with Grondona, the president of the AFA.

Maradona and Batista, both played for Argentina together in the 1986 World Cup but ever since the former was forced out of his job as the national coach and replaced by the latter, the duo have regularly been at loggerheads.

Maradona's stint as the coach of Argentina's football team ended after his side lost 4-0 to Germany in the quarter-finals of FIFA World Cup 2010 at South Africa. After initially being assured of getting his contract extended till the 2014 World Cup, the AFA retracted and decided to remove him from his post.

Ever since Maradona has remained a vocal critic of the new setup under Batista.

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