Iñigo Martínez's Comeback

The life of Iñigo Martínez has taken a 180-degree turn in just three months. The defender from Ondárroa has gone from being one of the players on the market if a good offer came to free up salary mass to being a key player for Hansi Flick in defense. The injuries of Ronald Araujo and Andreas Christensen have opened the doors to the starting lineup wide, and the former Athletic Club player has seized the opportunity perfectly. Against Young Boys, he debuted as a scorer with the Barça jersey at his best moment since arriving in Barcelona.

To reach this moment of happiness, Iñigo Martínez had to go through difficult times. He arrived at Barça in the summer of 2023 with physical problems that already suggested the road would be full of curves. He returned to Xavi Hernández's discipline, then the Barça coach, but always had a secondary role since then. He had to see how Christensen and Araujo were ahead of him and how Pau Cubarsí's emergence in the second half of last season posed a new obstacle in his career at Barça.

This summer arrived with that scenario. Iñigo Martínez had a single opportunity to convince Flick, and he did so quickly. The German was impressed by the defender's anticipation ability, leadership, and ease in playing the ball from the left center-back position, which is scarce in the Barça squad. Flick convinced the Blaugrana board to register the player from Ondárroa, and injuries first to Araujo and then Christensen left the former Athletic player as the main option to accompany Cubarsí at the start of the season.

Iñigo Martínez has taken advantage of this situation perfectly. He has settled as a left center-back and has repaid Flick's trust in him. He has done so by being that player who shone at Real Sociedad and Athletic with the ball at his feet, ensuring that fans do not miss too much those defenders who are in the infirmary. He has played all matches as a starter except for Osasuna at El Sadar, paradoxically, it is the game where Flick's team conceded most goals with four.

This Tuesday, Iñigo Martínez put the finishing touch to his great moment by finally removing a thorn in his side. He has always been a defender capable of scoring goals from set-pieces, but since joining Barça, he had not been able to excel in this area. Against Young Boys, he scored the third goal with a header after a cross from Pedri and rounded off his great moment by assisting Lewandowski in the second half. Lluis Companys stadium finally knows the best version of a center-back who could have joined Barça at 26 but eventually did so past thirty. Despite this, his performance is finally back to being that player for whom Barça fans longed for several consecutive summers.