Tricky: Tata Martino on convincing Lionel Messi to rest

Tricky: Tata Martino on convincing Lionel Messi to rest

The former Barcelona and Argentina manager spoke about the Argentine and gettin him to slow down

Tata Martino is the only coach who has managed Lionel Messi both for his club and his country. For this reason, he is someone who can speak about Messi a bit on a personal level as well as a sporting one. 

In an interview with BeIN Sports, Martino said: "Messi lives a very calm life, and on the pitch he's the same." 

Asked about the best way to convince the No 10 to rest, the coach explained that in his chats he tried to tell Messi that it was not necessary for him to play every minute. "I knew that he should rest. The importance of playing 70 or 90 minutes in games when you're winning 6-0 is not high. I thought: 'What if you injure yourself and miss important games?' In the first half of the season he took it quite well. Resting 20 minutes here and 25 there adds up to an entire game of rest."