Martino familiarized with Barca family

Gerardo 'Tata' Martino has met his squad and coaching staff. The Argentinian made his first contact with all of them in Oslo's Radisson Blu Hotel dining room, where the team was having breakfast. The initial greetings, introductions and conversations have finally taken place. Now it is time to get down to work.

On Saturday morning, Martino arrived in the dining room and greeted each member of the team one by one. There was one table where he spent more time than any other – the one where Mascherano, Adriano, Pinto, Messi, Song, Dos Santos and Alexis were seated. Messi stood up to shake his hand, grinning from ear to ear, and Mascherano prepared him a 'mate', the traditional infusion which no Argentinian can go without. The manager enjoyed it whilst chatting animatedly.

Next he sat down at the table reserved for the coaching staff alongside Andoni Zubizarreta, Paco Seirulo, Edu Pons, Aureli Altimira, Rubi and De la Fuente. The director of football did most of the talking. Now comes the thornier issue – who to keep on and who to get rid of.

The manager wants to wait a few days and get to know all of the staff members before making a final decision. One thing that was clear was that Saturday's gathering was just an introduction: 'Tata' was not wearing the Barcelona outfit – just a blue polo shirt and white trousers. In other words, he is the new manager, but has not started managing just yet.


/Marca.Com/