"My worst year was at Barcelona"

Gerardo el 'Tata' Martino said that his worst year as a coach was when he led Barcelona, as the club finished second in La Liga after a draw against Atletico Madrid in the last round.

Argentina's Gerardo Martino, now Mexico's manager, said on Thursday that the year he led Barcelona from 2013 to 2014 was the worst in his coaching career.

"From the results side it was not a bad year. We won a title and played a final, but in Barcelona what matters is how many titles you win. However, I say it was my worst year because my contribution as a coach began and ended with the management of the team," he said.

Martino said that Barcelona have an ingrained way of playing that he tried to improve with the speed of Lionel Messi, Alexis Sanchez, Pedro and Neymar.

"There are issues that my management was short-lived and for me the 'Clásico' with Real Madrid that we won 2-1 at home was key. The second goal we scored was a run into space and if Barcelona ran into space it was because something didn't add up. But I understood that if we could add something to the team it was not to deny them the possibility of running," added Martino.

He admitted that the changes he made to Barcelona's tactics were not well received, as the next day, there were more articles on his tactics than on victory.

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"The speed was going to make Barcelona more complete because when there were lapses in the dominance of the rival team, it was good to go back and go into space. They did that the following year with Luis Enrique", said the Argentinean.

On the other hand, he assured that his best period as a coach was when he was in charge of the Paraguayan National Team, which he took to the quarterfinals in the South Africa 2010 World Cup.

"What gave me the opportunity to coach Paraguay was my five years in local football, especially the semi-finals of the Copa Libertadores that we won with Libertad in 2006. I was excited about the quality of players I could have," he said.

The 2018 MLS champion with Atlanta United confessed that because of his characteristics as a player, he would not be included in a lineup now.

"It's hard for a player like me to fit into a team I'm coaching. I was a player who stood out because of my technical qualities and because of my slowness I developed the fact of playing fast to one and two touches, which disguised my physical slowness," he said.