The Argentine manager is pleased with how his team played against Valencia this evening
“I’m concerned that we gave Valencia five to ten minutes of respite… you cannot give your opponent opportunities,” he says
Tata Martino’s Barça come into the first international break of the season with a perfect record in La Liga after three matches. After Levante and Malaga, the Blaugrana took on Valencia at Mestalla and won 2 to 3 in a thrilling match. After the game, the team’s manager said, “because of where we played, the hierarchy of the team we played against and because of how we played, this was the best competitive form we’ve shown.”[[CITA_1]]
Martino admitted that when Barça were ahead 0-3 that the team should not have committed “plays that proved to be fatal.” He added: “I’m concerned that that we gave Valencia five to ten minutes of respite when we were ahead by three goals. You cannot give your opponent opportunities. If they are given it has to be because they created them and not because we gave them away.”
“We could have ended with a 3-3, 2-3 or 2-5. Regardless of what could have happened I would leave here very pleased with how the team played. We found what we were looking for,” said Martino. He added: “When I manage players that are this good I can’t say what we’re missing.” A good example of what Martino is referring to is the Neymar-Messi connection. “There was concern about how Neymar and Messi were going to interact on the pitch after they played their first match together. They fixed that in less than 24 hours.”