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In June 2018, Diego Martínez (Vigo; 41 years old) took over the bench at Granada, a depressed club in Segunda, and in his third season there he took them to the quarterfinals of the Europa League, which they lost against Manchester United.
So, at his best moment, he left him and went to England to learn from coaches, stadiums, fans, businessmen.
Of everything.
And then, this summer, he returned to take command of Espanyol, which this Sunday hosts Real Madrid (10:00 p.m., Movistar), and a few days before he talks by video call.
Ask.
Why did you leave Granada?
Response.
I commit myself emotionally to the fullest and I listen a lot to what I'm feeling.
And I understood that our stage in Granada had ended.
It is true: there was no more happiness.
I like to analyze biographies, and one of the most difficult things to interpret is when it's time to step aside.
Q.
Before it goes bad?
R.
No, it was not for that.
We always make the mistake of changing when things have gone wrong, and in other cultures this is more ingrained, this of changing when things are good or extraordinary, as was my case.
Q.
Didn't it scare you?
Didn't they say "but what are you doing"?
R.
That is the story of my life.
If I had listened to everyone around me... People who love me, huh.
But I listen to myself and what I feel.
In the end it is my decision.
Being a coach is already a decision.
To be a coach you have to inhibit fear, because you have to make decisions constantly.
I've always done well when I've made the decisions I felt I had to make.
Q.
And he went to England.
R.
I have always been moved by the concern to learn, and I had had the idea of going away for a while.
I understood that it was a magnificent moment to enrich myself.
I went with my family three months to England.
Because football is experienced there in a special way, and because of the language.
It's one of those things that you've had since you were little... You see those great teams on TV, those goals, that “Eeeeeeh!”
when they sing the goals...
Q.
What did you learn?
R.
I was in such a sponge mode and of capturing things that I couldn't allow myself the luxury of judging anything, not even identifying myself with anything, simply taking advantage of the moment and talking to people from very diverse sectors.
Not just soccer;
also from other disciplines, such as the business field.
I learned a lot from everyone.
More than incorporating things, it opens your mind more, and that gives you mental flexibility.
You are in a moment of so much concentration that everything goes very fast and very slow at the same time
P.
Do you also take ideas from other sports?
R.
Basketball, handball and volleyball.
More than for the game, for how they face the analysis of the game.
They are very methodical sports.
In training in a pavilion, it is easier to maintain attention and for the coach's information to reach everyone.
We try to reproduce it on the soccer field, generate that climate of concentration of a pavilion.
Although here the training ground is right next to the Ronda Dalt and there is a lot of noise.
12 years ago, when I worked at Sevilla, I visited several quarries, and in my notes I already noted that there was a lot of noise here.
Q.
What do they do?
Do they get together more?
A.
For example.
More individual comments.
We have to adapt, find a way to transmit information in another way.
And this is the art of training.
My working method, apart from the structure of the methodology, has a lot of art, the art of the moment, the sensitivity of the moment.
P.
You have also mentioned Ferran Adrià among your references.
What interests you about him?
R.
Everything interests me about Ferrán, because he thinks differently, because he has gone one step further.
That divergent thinking has made him special.
I am very interested in creativity, the process, how he has reflected on his process, incredibly documented since the beginning of El Bulli.
I don't know how many disciplines have progressed so much in the last 30 years.
The kitchen, what he has done, I don't know if I should call it a kitchen, I don't know what to call it...
The worst is the 10-15 seconds when you open your eyes the day after losing a game.
P.
What is more difficult to find creative solutions?
R.
The most complicated creativity is finding money.
From the investment you sign football talent, but you can also bring mentalities closer, and that conditions everything else.
P.
And the creativity to make decisions in a match?
R.
The moment of making the decision in the minimum time is special.
You are in the fish tank.
Everyone can have an opinion on something in which you have all the elements, but outsiders do not have many.
Everyone has the solution and you never have the right one.
You have to live with this.
You are in a moment of such concentration that everything is going very fast and very slow at the same time.
So focused that you are dancing, competing the match.
That concentration helps me bring out the best in me.
It is very difficult to reproduce those conditions.
The more you play, and the more you compete, the better you are.
Q.
What is the worst moment?
R.
The worst thing is waiting for the hour before the game.
With butterflies in your stomach, and that adrenaline… Then, when you're without a team, it's what you miss the most.
It is a tremendous contradiction.
Another moment is the 10-15 seconds when you open your eyes the day after losing a match.
That's terrible.
You say: "It's true, it's true...".
P.
Why did you choose Espanyol when you decided to return?
R.
Because of what both Catoira and the president transmitted to me.
Because it is a unique place, a historical site, a unique place with a very special feeling, very passionate, for the positive and the negative pole.
But it has a soul, it has an essence, it has DNA.
And also because we shared a vision in terms of making a transformation.
It is true that it will take us longer than we thought.
For different reasons, market, economic, whatever, we are at another time.
We thought we were at a higher starting point, but the reality now is to start from lower.
The most complicated creativity is finding money;
that determines everything else
Q.
What about RDT?
A.
He joined later because he came from the national team.
He comes with some discomfort and requests not to train with the group.
Three weeks ago he did 15 minutes with the group, but he resented it again.
When he is fit, for us he is one more.
From there, the market, how is it from here to the end, well, we'll see what happens.
This already escapes me.
Q.
In your year away from football, there were comebacks for Madrid.
What did they suggest?
R.
Coincidence cannot be when you repeat it so many times.
In a game there are many games, the important thing is to take advantage of your best moments and translate them into goals, and in your worst moments to be able to hold on to the game to opt for the dynamics to vary.
And then, they are convinced that they can come back, and they have made their rivals feel that they can come back.
Those two things seem like a real barbarity to me.
It obviously has to do with the current team, but also with the weight of history.
Q.
Can that be replicated?
R.
Days before the first comeback [against PSG] I was with the director of the Real Madrid youth academy and asked him: "What word would you use to describe your DNA?"
I'm not going to reveal everything, but one that told me: “Epic”.
And after two days, that happens.
Wow.
It caught my attention.
Of course, epic is also about doing very unlikely things.
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