The story between Lionel Messi and Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino is one that continues to write lines on the pages of the history of foot ball worldwide and especially in Argentina, and after having been members of the Barcelona Football Club at the same time, their paths were achieved once again in Inter Miami of Major League Soccer, where they aspire and they hope to win it all to make the Florida team much bigger.
‘Tata’, as the Argentine coach is known, is one of the people who best knows Messi after having directed him at various times for several years in different scenarios and it was precisely within said context where the Albiceleste coach revealed details about the intimacy of the locker room of the pink team of ‘Las Garzas’ and what the role of the Inter Miami captain is and of the Argentine national team on the squad.
Messi and Martino the perfect together
“It is the third job we have shared. This one is a bit different, it catches us with a few more years and there with some less pressure than in Barcelona and the Argentine team,” the coach began his story. In their time defending the Blaugrana colors of FC Barcelona, both managed to lift the Spanish Super Cup, while in the United States they already managed to win the Leagues Cup last season, which meant the first championship in the history of the franchise. With the Albiceleste, on the other hand, they were runners-up in two editions of the Copa América (2015 and 2016).
Martino was asked about what it means for himself to be able to compete alongside great players. as well as those he also coached at Barcelona, Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets, as well as the Uruguayan striker ‘El Pistolero’ Luis Suárez whom he did not coach at the culé club, but especially Lionel Messi, a living legend of professional football, the ‘Tata’ commented the following:
“What I believe is that you are a coach and you know who you are coaching. What I try to do, as much as possible… They are very easy kids to get along with on a day-to-day basis. What we try to do is Leo is here, the rest is here, and based on that we manage ourselves in the most correct way. Because it’s not good for the younger boy to see big changes in the coach regarding how he treats each other.”
A Messi who remains competitive and committed
Martino also placed a lot of emphasis on how involved and committed Messi is since training with the rest of his teammates., even for obvious reasons, the matches of any competition: “From the first day, a great participation in each training session. It always caught my attention that we were doing tactical work and when we stopped to cool off, Messi is talking to 3 or 4. Busquets, with another 3 or 4. And that continues to happen to this day. When you have in 3 or 4 players the extension of an idea, and the way in which the teammate takes and receives what the experienced footballer transmits to him, for the coach it is too great a relief.”
“You see it in training. They are guys who get angry, who protest, who argue with their partner., with which he is a possible rival. They are always looking to win, they ask you what the rules are. Their competitive nature is what keeps them at a high level. You have to think that Leo has been at Inter Miami for a year and in a month or so he will play in a semifinal against Uruguay, Brazil or Colombia. If they don’t do it here, it will be difficult for them to do it there,” the coach noted.
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