Tata Martino believes that Real Madrid will be unable to defeat a Barcelona side playing at its best in the Copa del Rey final tonight.
The sides meet at Valencia’s Mestalla for their third encounter of the season, Barca having won the previous two, most recently taking a 4-3 victory from Santiago Bernabeu.
But Martino has told his pre-match Press conference that while Barca will use the prior matches as inspiration, he doesn’t view success in the Cup as a chance to avenge recent defeats in the Champions League and the League.
“We should use the moments of the two Clasicos played so far,” AS reports Martino as saying.
“From beginning to end, we’ve learned how to suffer. We have to recreate those moments in the game.
“Barca is a very straightforward team. If we play well, we win. This team not long ago played well and won.
“It’s claimed something has changed with these players. I understand what people ask of this team but it has to be understood that not each year can they be the best in the world.
“These players marked a before and after in the history of the sport.
“I don’t see any revenge for the League and the Champions League. It’s a title, a final, and we have to win.
“We have to fix what went wrong in the past, but what happened has happened and we have to work hard.”
Madrid are without Cristiano Ronaldo for the game while the topic of the form of Lionel Messi was put to Martino.
“Ronaldo is one of the best players in the world and they always want to have him in the team,” Martino said.
“Everyone has to contribute to make the team better. Under no circumstances should anyone be expected to contribute more than that.
“The more together we are, the better. You have to be strong, brave and honest to keep going.
“I don’t think finals have become routine. I don’t think you can just leave it aside. There are no emotional problems in the team.”
