Pressure a privilege for Martino at Barca

Barcelona manager Gerardo Martino has accepted that pressure to win titles is just part and parcel of his new job as his side prepare to take on Atletico Madrid in the first-leg of the Spanish Super Cup on Wednesday. Atleti boss Diego Simeone said earlier on Tuesday that all the pressure was on the Catalans as they will be heavy favourites to lift the first trophy of the Spanish season. And his compatriot Martino agreed that the expectations are such at Barcelona that anything other than victory over the two legs will be a huge disappointment. "Managing Barca the aspirations and obligations are the biggest they can be. You always have to go and win," he told a press conference on Tuesday. "We will try to take this title. It is a game over 180 minutes and we will play it as such." Barca's 7-0 hammering of Levante in Martino's first competitive match in charge on Sunday did little to dispel fears over the growing disparity in resources between Barca and Real Madrid and the rest of the sides in La Liga. However, Martino believes that despite losing Radamel Falcao in the close season, Atletico are capable of pushing Barca and Madrid this season. "Atletico, in the way that they play, are a very solid team. They are comfortable without possession and very direct. It is a very difficult test for us. "I think they are a side capable of winning La Liga." One of the most striking elements of Barca's performance on Sunday was their high pressing -- reminiscent of Pep Guardiola's early days in charge at Barca -- which suffocated Levante anytime the recovered possession. Martino though is wary of over-reacting to just one performance and says it will take a couple of months to see if his side have successfully recovered their ability to press effectively. "It is not going to go well all the time and we will see how we develop, but we need to try to keep doing it in the same way. We have to play 10 or 12 games to see if we can sustain it and if we have definitively recovered it." The 50-year-old also made a big decision in his first outing at the Camp Nou by replacing World Player of the Year Lionel Messi for the last 20 minutes. Despite the one-sided scoreline, it has been increasingly rare for Messi to sit out the closing stages of matches in recent seasons, but Martino stressed that he had discussed the idea with his compatriot beforehand and that it could become a more frequent occurrence this season. "He knows that this is going to happen. I will be sufficiently careful to not take him off five times in a row! "It is all a question of balance. It is very rare that I take such a big decision without talking with the players. I feel more comfortable having a dialogue with them." Source: AFP