Iñigo Martínez sees the Spanish team prepared to reign in the Euro Cup that will be held next summer in Germany. «We have a great team and the objective is always to win, do a good job and lift what we all want to lift. We work for it, in each game we have to give our best. There are great teams and we will have to suffer, but I have no doubt that we are capable of winning it. “We have young players with a lot of talent and why not dream of winning that tournament,” said the Ondarroa center back in the press conference he offered before the national team headed to Cyprus, where on Thursday they will play the first of the two duels. with which the qualifying phase for the great continental tournament will close and which should serve Luis de la Fuente’s troops to certify their status as seeded in the draw that will be held on December 2 in Hamburg.
After missing the Final Four of the Nations League due to injury and not being called up by the coach in the last two windows, the defender has once again earned the trust of De la Fuente thanks to the good moment he is going through with Barça. «I feel good, physically I can say that I have left behind those problems that have prevented me from competing and I am at a moment in which I am having the opportunity to play for Barça. Happy with this call. It is always an honor to be here,” explained the Basque.
After a difficult start to the season due to the physical problems he was experiencing and the Barça club’s difficulties in registering all its signings, the former Athletic player has earned a place in Xavi Hernández’s plans, with whom he has been a starter in four of the last six games played by the culé team and now hopes to take advantage of the duels against Cyprus (on Thursday at the Limassol Stadium) and against Georgia (on Sunday at the José Zorrilla in Valladolid) to convince Luis de la Fuente that it deserves a place in the plans for the Euro Cup. At 32 years old, the Basque defender has 20 caps since Vicente del Bosque gave him the alternative in a friendly against Ecuador in 2013 and aspires to play in his first European Championship, after missing the 2016 and 2021 events.
Related news
“One always dreams of being in those big tournaments and I hope I can do a good job so that the coach can count on me,” he said in an appearance in which he highlighted the great atmosphere that exists in the Spanish team’s locker room. «Every new player that comes is well received. If this team has something good, it is that there are extraordinary people who open doors to anyone. You can see from the first minute that they integrate well. We try to get them to adapt quickly to the dressing room and it is quite easy to get into. “There is a great group eager to learn and play,” he explained.
Defense of arbitration
Iñigo Martínez came out against the criticism that Barça is receiving for a game that is far from the standard to which the culé parish is accustomed. “It is true that the team’s play is not always brilliant,” acknowledged the Biscayan, who nevertheless defended the unity of the locker room and expressed confidence that “better moments will come” and “the game will improve.”
The Basque doesn’t care about criticism. “It affects those who want to give it importance, that’s not my case,” he said in a press conference in which he advocated taking them “completely naturally and trying to turn the situation around.” “I don’t think we’re doing bad at all,” said the Barça centre-back, who argued that when you win by the minimum or come back from a game “you also see the strength of the team.”
The defender downplayed Robert Lewandowski’s warnings against young Lamine Yamal during Barça’s clash against Alavés last Sunday. «There are a thousand of those reprimands in every game. What happens is that a world has been made of that action. Robert already gave the explanations. The team is very united, the relationship between them is spectacular. “We have to stay away from these controversies that give us little,” he stressed in a speech in which he thanked the trust “from the first minute” that Xavi Hernández showed him and broke a spear for the refereeing establishment. «There have always been controversies and there always will be. The important thing is to leave them alone. There is a lot of pressure and a lot of hype on the referees. There are situations like hands that we are not very clear about, but it is best to leave them alone. The less pressure they have, the better their job will be. “Full confidence in Spanish arbitration,” he remarked.
2023-11-14 18:16:45
#Iñigo #Martínez #sees #Spain #capable #winning #Euro #Cup
