Martino: "I was too much of an unknown quantity at Barça"

Gerardo Martino, who left Barcelona at the end of last season, has spoken of his experiences at Camp Nou in an interview with Argentinean media outlet Canchallena. Martino, who now manages the Argentina national team, said he was surprised at how little was known about him in Catalonia and that he felt he was constantly under the microscope.

What was the most difficult aspect? "Seeing the repercussions from the day-to-day. And many things where I found myself asking: "And when did that happen that I didn't see it?" Constant news stories about things that happened, and things that didn't... I never like to give excuses and so of course I didn't when I was there, but I found it hard to live with that. There was the other side of the day-to-day, which was being with the players and I enjoyed that, they were fantastic kids who I could to about football; they were all very well-known but unassuming. That made things easier, but it was a year that took a lot out of me."

When you left you shouldered all the responsibility... "Well, firstly for me it is unthinkable not to feel responsible when you arrive at a club that always wins and wins and the only new face is mine. And I didn't feel prepared to defend the team's football from the point of view of defeat. So I accepted responsibility, I said what needed to be said and that was the end of the matter, because when you accept responsibility there is no need for further questions. If I had said that we didn't play so badly, that there were mitigating circumstances... then I would have had to maintain that line and run the risk of falling into contradictions."

What did you take away from the experience? "I think it will help me a lot with this [the Argentina national team] because it is also living with something where you are a news story every day. There will be times when things will happen and I won't be surprised by them. All of that has nothing to do with the football in itself, but with everything that surrounds it, and the exposure. One feels permanently watched, for things that sometimes happened and sometimes didn't."

The criticisms started very quickly... "It was a very profound change... The team had been scoring several goals in every game, we had scored 19 and conceded four or five. And at that time, which I think was in the fifth round of fixtures, I started to think it was going to be difficult to keep it up. At Barcelona there is a lot of importance placed on winning; but not everything is celebrated in the same way, and you also have to look at the stature of the opposition. I was too much of an unknown quantity when I arrived. I was surprised by the level of unfamiliarity about me. The man in the supermarket may not know about you, but the people who work in the sport should."

from Últimas noticias | Diario AS http://ift.tt/XhD7dO

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