World and European champion with the Spanish team, Javi Martínez (Ayegui, Navarra, 35 years old) stretches his football in Qatar. He doesn’t change. Dressed in the Osasuna, Athletic or Bayern Munich shirt, the midfielder is always in good spirits. He likes to talk. He does it about football, of course, but also about life. In the run-up to La Roja’s debut in the Euro Cup, there are few players who know German football as well as Javi Martínez: he played nine seasons for the Bavarian giant.
Ask. How does he fall into Bayern Munich?
Answer. It wasn’t normal. Until that moment, not many Spanish footballers had gone to Germany. In fact, I was the first Spaniard in the history of Bayern. Then more arrived.
Q. Did it make you dizzy?
R. You had to be a little brave. It’s a completely new country: new culture, new language. But, since I’m quite adventurous, I didn’t mind. It is clear that the Spanish league is very strong and that the comfortable thing is to stay in Spain. The complicated thing, however, is to go outside and look for a new challenge. A challenge not only in football, but also in life.
Q. What was found in Germany?
R. I miss Munich a lot. It is the least German city, probably with Berlin. There are many people from Italy, from Türkiye. A lot of globalization. In fact, when I was there, there were 6,000 Spaniards. It was outrageous. There is a lot of variety of everything, I had the Alps next to me. I’m from Navarra, a mountain guy. It gave me life. It is a bit hard in winter because it was very cold and snowy, but in April, May, it became an incredible city to live in.
Q. Language?
R. I learned it super fast. At Bayern they gave you a lot of facilities. I had a teacher who was at the Ciudad Deportiva the eight or 10 hours that I was there. The German culture is to arrive at training at eight in the morning and leave the sports city at four in the afternoon. You talked to the teacher and he organized the class according to your needs. I was always very curious about learning languages and I had a very good feeling with the teacher.
Q. At a football level?
R. German football is more physical, faster and more direct compared to Spanish football, which historically is more touch-based. But when I arrived I found something different than what I expected.
Q. A Spanishized German football?
R. With the coaches I have had in Germany, we have implemented more of a long possessions model. But almost all Bundesliga teams have fast people. In Spain, at least one of the two wingers is more skilled than fast, on the other hand, in Germany both wingers are very fast and there is a tanky forward. The typical German attacker to play more directly or to give continuity to a second play or an extension.
Q. How did you experience that attempt at Spanishization? Like a mistake?
R. Today football is global. People try to look for things abroad. I lived it with happiness. There was a time when there were five Spaniards at Bayern: Juan Bernat, Xabi Alonso, Pepe Reina, Thiago Alcántara and me. And the coach was Pep. In the locker room, more Spanish was spoken than German.
Q. Besides Guardiola, you had great coaches…
R. If you look at my coaching resume it is impressive. But I have also learned a lot from the lesser known ones.
Q. Tell me about Flick.
R. His idea of the game was very Spanish. His way of playing was joyful. An incredible person.
Q. Ancelotti type?
R. The way of wearing the costumes was similar, yes.
Q. Heynckes.
R. She commanded respect. He got the most out of the players. They had told me that at Atlético he was very upright, very serious, but we caught him at a time when he was before retiring and he was calm.
Q. Just as calm as Bielsa?
R. Well… Marcelo was more intense (laughs). He is a crazy footballer. He lives football 24 hours a day. I feel privileged to have had it.
Q. How do you analyze the next Euro Cup?
R. There are four or five teams that are even. And that makes it a very nice competition. Perhaps the most favorite may be France, because of the players it has and because it is a finalist in the last World Cup. But I don’t see it as distant from the other teams as it happened in the previous Euro Cup. Spain, Germany, England have teams to compete for the title.
Q. To Germany too?
R. They have some incredible players. A midfield and an attack, which, if not the best in the tournament, is close. In defense it does go down a little, which in France, for example, is a little better. Nagelsmann is a young coach, but he knows and understands football a lot. He didn’t achieve great results at Bayern, but people were delighted with him.
Q. Were you surprised by what Xabi Alonso achieved at Bayer Leverkusen?
R. He surprises everyone because he didn’t lose a single game. I don’t think he even expected it.
Q. Did you talk to him?
R. Yes, but not about this. We don’t usually talk about football. You could see that he was going to be a coach, because of his way of being and his way of training when he was a player. But he is not a crazy person like Marcelo Bielsa either.
Q. How do you remember the World Cup and the European Championship that you won with Spain?
R. With pride, for me and my country. That team marked an era. Not only because of the titles, but also because of the way of playing. If you think of the great teams in the history of football, you think of Pelé’s Brazil, Beckenbauer’s Germany, A Clockwork Orange and I would put Spain in that group. After that selection, everyone wanted to imitate her as had happened before with Holland and with Pep’s Barça.
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