BILBAO – Íñigo Martínez said, after Real Madrid’s elimination in the Spanish Super Cup semi-finals, that he hoped that Leo Messi, who missed the other semi-final against Real Sociedad due to injury, “will not reach the Super Cup final on Sunday, so Athletic Bilbao will have “more options” to win.
“It will be another tough game against a great rival that we suffer at home in the league. We hope that Leo will not arrive and so we will have more options,” the international central defender said openly.
Who, like Athletic, he remembered Gaizka Garitano, the coach who made it possible to reach this Supercup and fired ten days ago.
“Unfortunately, the players are used to these situations. It was not easy because we had a lot of appreciation for Gaizka and his team and if we are here it is because of him. Now Marcelino has arrived, who has adapted well, with other ideas that we will have to give them. taking progressively, “he reflected.
For Iñigo, today’s victory was “a huge joy after suffering so much against a team like Madrid”. “With hard work and sacrifice we achieved what we wanted, to be in the final”, he congratulated, having a few words for Raúl García, the author of the two goals for his team a month after he was expelled from Valdebas minute 13.
“When a player makes a mistake, he feels guilty, he first, but that day I put him in. He wanted to shoot a penalty and we were sure he would score,” he added.
And about the last piece, revised by VAR for a possible penalty from Unai Nuñez, he said that he does not think it is “enough to whistle a penalty”. “I see he touches his head and then he can hit him in the hand (he was on his shoulder), but I don’t think it’s enough to whistle a penalty,” he said.