The match between FC Barcelona and Athletic Club tonight will be a special event for one player in particular. Inigo Martinez spent the last six seasons in the club that he will be facing today with Barcelona.
Martinez joined Barcelona as a free agent over the summer but came with some physical issues in his right foot that kept him from participating fully in the pre-season as well as in the earlier games of the season. However, the defender has now left these injury issues behind him and is fully fit to feature for Barcelona tonight.
Martinez fully fit to face Athletic Club
As already reported here, he is a part of the squad that Barcelona have announced for this match and is also likely to start the game as Xavi will be looking to rest Ronald Araujo tonight, who has accumulated a high number of minutes with Barcelona and Uruguay in recent days.
Inigo Martinez was not a part of the Spain squad for the last couple of international matches and thus remained at Barcelona in the last international break. According to Mundo Deportivo, he has showcased his fitness to Xavi during this time.
Xavi noted Martinez’s fitness
Xavi has also noticed Martinez’s return to full fitness, and also mentioned this in his press conference before the match, as he stated:
“Iñigo will be important. It’s a signing that I approved, and I believe he can contribute a lot to us. He’s in good shape; we saw it during this week when he didn’t go with the national team.”
Until now, Martinez has been able to participate only in three games for the Catalan club and has accumulated only 92 minutes.
However, these numbers are expected to see a significant rise as the defender is likely to feature more on the pitch in the coming matches, as the schedule for Barcelona becomes increasingly congested, and the starters begin accumulating more fatigue.
