With just over 48 hours to measure strength against Barça, Roger Martí has no doubt that his team, beyond the form of his opponent this Sunday, he has the illusion and the ability to win to increase his chances of achieving a salvation in which he believes despite the difficulty. In addition, he will seek to pierce the goal of a rival who does not know what it is to mark him and who flirted with his services in the past. Not in vain, he leads wherever his Levantinism goes.
How are you?
Good, animated. Especially after the victory the other day. It has helped the team to gain confidence. We know that a very complicated final stretch is ahead of us, but we are going with the utmost enthusiasm to see if we achieve our goal. It’s hard, but it can still be done.
What a heel assist he gave Morales before the Villarreal…
(Laughs) Yes, the truth is that the play came out perfect. It is a resource that I have tried some time and that, luckily, came out at that moment. I fought the ball, it was free to leave it to Morales and everything ended well. It came out perfect.
A Villarreal who, after four days, beat bayern. Why is it difficult for the team to always give the same image?
Each game is a world. The match against Villarreal was very important for us. We knew we could get hooked on salvation again. At the Ciutat de València, the team is showing that anger and that desire to turn the situation around. Now Barça is coming, we know the moment they are in and how difficult it is going to be, but we go with the hope of doing something nice this Sunday.
At the Ciutat de València, the team is showing that anger and that desire to turn the situation around. Now Barça is coming, we know the moment they are in and how difficult it is going to be, but we go with the illusion of doing something nice this Sunday
After having stayed at thirteen points, being at six seems to be nothing.
Yes, that is important. The team has never thrown in the towel. The easy thing would have been to have given up and give it all up for lost, but it hasn’t been like that. We have continued to believe and cut points. Right now we are six with eight games remaining, so anything can happen.
How everything changes in a year. Do not?
It seems practically impossible that, after the year we did last season, we are now like this. Many of us have wondered, but we don’t know what exactly has happened to us. However, it is true that, in the first days, I think the team deserved much more. Many points slipped away at the end of matches. We got into a very complicated wheel to manage and we thought we were worse than we were. That that thought entered our head did us a lot of damage and has harmed us, it is plain to see. We have much more equipment than has been shown. It’s a shame we’re in this situation, but there are still eight games to go. It’s difficult, but I trust that we can fight until the end of the season.
Has the bad dynamic been the fault of the mental aspect?
Yes. The head is very important in a footballer. Last year we ended with a very negative dynamic and starting like this the next one affected us. The team played very good games at the beginning, but losing points for small details did not help us to grow mentally. Much of it has been because of that: the mental aspect.
As captain, does the difficult situation weigh more on you because of the responsibility you have?
I don’t know whether to call it responsibility or, perhaps, that this whole situation affects me more. For the time I’ve been here and for what I feel for Levante. These are screwed-up times for everyone, but the people who have been here the longest are the ones who suffer the most and the ones who have to show their faces the most. Veteran people have tried to add and pull the bandwagon with another who has not been in Levante for so long and who has a harder time dealing with this situation. In the end, this is everyone’s thing. We have to add so that Levante is where it has to be.
Is it the most difficult season since you arrived at I raised?
Yes. It’s been a pretty tough year for me. You saw the day to day and the team we had and what was later perceived in the games was not reflected. That demotivates and demoralizes you, but we have managed to take a step forward and know how to better manage these situations. Mentally we are stronger than before. I just hope it’s not too late.
In fact, it’s showing in his scoring stats. Does it make you helpless not to record the same figures as in previous seasons?
It’s a bit of everything. Last year everything went smoothly, the team generated much more and I had many opportunities and ease to score goals. This season I missed a month due to injury and, maybe, I would have a few more goals. But honestly, it’s not something that worries me. I’ve been scoring more than ten goals for three years. In this I have five and there are still eight games. Although I’m telling you… I don’t bother with the scoring statistics. What I want is to continue helping the team. Last weekend it was with an assist, which served to put us ahead on the scoreboard. At the end of the day, what I will never stop giving is the work in the field. However, if it is with goals, much better, of course.
I’ve been scoring more than ten goals for three years. In this he has five and there are still eight games left. I don’t mess with the statistics. At the end of the day, what I will never stop giving is the work in the field. However, if it is with goals much better.
Not in vain, now we see a more associative and more participatory Roger Martí.
I always try to interpret the moments that the match gives you. There are times when you drop one and you put it in, and others when you have to give other records and help in other facets of the game. There are games in which I wear down defenders a lot and, with my movements, other teammates benefit. It also happens the other way around. You have to play the role you play at all times and be smart on the pitch.
At 31, what do you expect Levante to give you in the future?
I have a contract until 2024, but right now I don’t think beyond this year. All I want is to save this season.
Would you like to retire here?
Levante has given me everything. I will always be grateful to him. It is the team that made me debut in the First Division. Although I think that in football you never know what can happen to you, I am very comfortable here and I have always said so.
In Levante he has lived many moments. As a striker, what is his best goal?
Without a doubt, the most exciting and the one that filled me the most was the pass to the semifinals of the Copa del Rey last season. It was an incredible goal. The feeling I had that day was spectacular, because of how it was achieved and what it meant. The only downside I have is not having been able to enjoy it with the Ciutat de València full.
However, he has never scored against Barça in his career. Do you feel like doing it?
I want to mark anyone (laughs). I’ve scored against Madrid, Atlético, Sevilla, Valencia… and it’s true that I’ve never scored against Barça. Hopefully on Sunday I get rid of the thorn.
In fact, Barça was interested in his services in February 2020. Right?
Yes, although that is already anecdotal. It’s true, there were conversations with my agents and they transferred Barcelona’s interest to the club. For me, at that moment, it was something incredible. That a team like Barça asked about my situation was nice, we are not going to deny it. But it is already behind.
How do you beat Barça? They have not been good at the Ciutat in recent years.
You have to make a perfect game and that they do not have the day. At home we have to make it an ideal meeting. We know that our people are going to push from the beginning, just as we are going to face a challenge that will be difficult. What we have to do is run faster than them and be successful. We have already beaten Barça at the Ciutat de València on previous occasions.
Will the result be decisive to face what will be a final against Granada?
We know how important this match is, because afterwards we played against a direct rival like Granada. If we achieve something positive we will see everything much more clearly. Now it’s time to think about Sunday. Once it’s done, you’ll see.