• LaLiga.Classification of First

Is it possible to bet on an eleven very defined type and at the same time have the 25 players of a template fully plugged in? A priori, the rational answer is no. In Granada, however, they know that both are perfectly compatible. The key is Diego Martínez , the team coach of the start of the season, with 10 points in five games, three of them achieved on Saturday against Barcelona in Los Cármenes. A technician, despite everything, with his feet on the ground. "The favorite is Valladolid," he said about his visit to José Zorrilla on Tuesday. "We all have very clear our reality, we are a very humble newly promoted, we have to be outstanding in order to win the games," added the youngest coach of Primera, barely 38 years old, who will sleep as a provisional leader if he defeats Valladolid.

The key to the unexpected good health enjoyed by Granada lies, beyond football aspects, in the cohesion of the group that has led its coach since last season he arrived in Los Cármenes. Those who know him agree to describe him as "born motivator", an expert in psychological work and with great ability to connect emotionally with the player. He uses to fill the blackboard of the wardrobe with concepts and positive messages for the players before the matches. On Saturday, for Barça's visit he summed up the "identity" of his team, according to Brand , with terms such as competitive, cohesive, united, intelligent, mature, brave, determined, mental power ... All that, and much more, it is what Granada is being in this sensational start of the league championship.

But that union of the group, largely the same one that achieved the ascent, goes beyond the training ground. The players have breakfast and eat together daily in the sports city. When a handful of minor internal fines are collected - for being five minutes late for training, for example -, the technician himself is responsible for collecting the money to organize barbecues at the club's own training facilities.

Mountain excursion

Although perhaps the most striking activity took place last year. One day, Diego Martínez decided to take the team to the mountain. And you have to understand the word team in its broadest meaning: players, technicians, medical staff, auxiliaries ... Three hours of hiking in the mountains to group and strengthen personal relationships between staff members and those who work with them daily. He liked the idea so much that they repeated it.

Of course, getting along does not guarantee results if there is not a good football job behind. And in that aspect, the numbers of Granada speak for themselves. In the 47 official matches led by Martinez, Granada has not lost any by more than one goal difference. Last season was the least thrashed team of Second, with 28 goals in 41 games -19 of them with the goal to zero-, and only added seven defeats, which earned him to achieve direct promotion. A totally unexpected achievement for a team that had not set that goal at all.

This season, with the exception of 4-4 with which he started at the Estadio de La Cerámica, Granada walks the same path. He lost the second 0-1 clash against Sevilla and since then adds three victories against Espanyol, Celta and Barça leaving his goal to zero all three times. Only the azulgrana and Villarreal have scored one more goal than the Nasrid team. And all this with an eleven base in which seven players of the ascent template appear, with the addition of Duarte, Machís, Yangel Herrera and Soldier.

Defensive security

From that defensive security, Granada is a team that handles different records. It is the vital heritage of his coach, who worked in Seville for eight years drinking from coaches as different as Marcelino, Míchel or Emery . It was part of the learning process of a self-made technician, with no experience as a professional footballer. Born in Vigo, he moved to Granada to study INEF and began his career in humble clubs in the province until Monchi fixed his eyes on him. «If I am in Primera, it is because of him, because of the confidence he gave me», Martínez has come to say.

In Seville he won the Spanish youth championship and promoted and maintained the subsidiary in Segunda. Then he emigrated to Pamplona, ​​where things did not go well at all. Returning to Granada, the land of his wife, Diego Martínez enjoys between excursions and barbecues the best moment of his career.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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  • First division
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  • Granada CF

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