The new coach of the Catalonia team, Gerardo "Tata" Martino, who fielded Lionel Messi and Neymar from the very first minutes of the match against the Thai national team, admitted that he wanted to see how this duo works. "I was interested in seeing how they play together on the field. The match was not important, so not scoring goals is the most important factor. I wanted to check both L. Messi and Neymar," noted the Argentine.
According to the coach, considering the opponents, the view on the field was indeed not bad. "Both of them not only combined with each other, but also created attacks with other teammates. No matter the level of the opponents we faced, I liked the work of the team's footballers on the field - how they pressed the opponents, tried to take possession of the ball, attacked the goal, and controlled the situation. It was a decent match played. I cared more about watching how my players understand each other on the field than the number of goals scored on the scoreboard," summarized "Tata" Martino.
The tour around Asia should be concluded by "Barcelona" with a match against the Malaysian national team tomorrow, but some sources report that the match may not take place.
According to the Catalonia television channel TV3, the Spanish champions are unhappy with the poor pitch at the Bukit Jalil Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, so there are fears that the players might get injured.