From a sporting perspective, FC Barcelona are enjoying a great run of form under Hansi Flick this season. Across the five games played in La Liga so far, La Blaugrana have managed to win all five games. With a perfect record so far, Barcelona are flying when it comes to their performances.
However, while these performances are brilliant in their own right, they are even more impressive when the context behind them is explored and understood. This season, despite having a team that is depleted in terms of the personnel that they have, mainly due to injury, Barça has still continued to perform.
Yet, many people will overlook the reasoning behind why the club is still playing as well as they are. Despite some major defensive players being out and sidelined due to various injuries, the Catalan club still has a dependable back-line and it is mainly thanks to the work and insistence of Hansi Flick towards the registration of a certain unlikely hero.
As highlighted by SPORT, the German coach made sure to have veteran Spanish defender Inigo Martinez be the first player to be registered in his team when it came to the unregistered players ahead of the first official game. While it may have looked like a strange decision then, it is now paying off.
That is because the 33-year-old defender continues to be an absolute in this new-look Barcelona team and has started each and every single game so far, accumulating a total of 450 minutes thus far in La Liga and being a key player alongside Pau Cubarsi in the back-line.
With both Ronald Araujo and Andreas Christensen still out injured, Martinez’s brilliant performances become even more acknowledgeable. While the Uruguayan defender may have returned to the club facilities, his return is still expected to take some time and Barça will need to make do until that happens.
Fortunately for them, Inigo Martinez has given the club every reason to be hopeful. With five wins out of five games and some brilliant leadership being shown by the €5 million-rated veteran both on and off the field this season, it is clear to see why the Barcelona coach was so insistent about getting him registered early.
