For the first time in 317 games, Barcelona had lesser possession percentage than their opponents. Tata Martino, the Barcelona football team coach came under heavy criticism after the stat. Despite winning the game convincingly, critics lashed out at the coach and believed that this embarked the beginning of the downfall of the team.
Martino defended his team’s record as they thumped Rayo Vallecano, 4-0.
“I am not surprised by the critics finding faults with every single performance. That’s their job”, Martino told reporters.
“When a team is as successful as Barcelona, debates are bound to occur and that too when the media believes that the coach is vulnerable. My main concern is regarding the performance of the players. At the moment, they are happy and relaxed”, he said.
Victor Valdes’ long passes came under question by the media.
“I would rather prefer to win the league than make a flawless start. I am interested in the end result and not breaking records at such an early stage in the season. If we can keep winning and gather points, I would be more than happy,” he stated. “If you question our possession percentage, I would like to point out that the average percentage last season was 60% and it is 65.8% so far, this season. And, regarding the long passes, Rafa Marquez used to play here. It is not that the club is never used to long balls”, he added