FC Barcelona's homegrown talent Sergi Martinez enjoyed a breakout game in his first Clasico last season and now he gets to experience the rivalry again, this time with fans in the stands.
Sergi Martinez: 'I want to give my best for this club'
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7 Mins read
Friday night’s Clasico is set up to be a classic encounter indeed as the famous old rivalry between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid provides the added twist of first taking on second at the top of the standings.
Last season’s encounter in Barcelona was won by the hosts, 79-72, and featured a strong performance from an extremely unexpected source: young Barca forward Sergi Martinez, who was playing in just his third EuroLeague game and his first-ever Clasico, but delivered 7 points and 9 rebounds in 31 forceful minutes on the floor.
As you can easily imagine, it was a memorable occasion for Martinez, who was born in Rubit, a neighboring town of Barcelona, grew up as a fan of the team and joined the club at the age of 11.
It’s no surprise that Martinez remembers the night extremely clearly: “I remember before the game I was so nervous because it was the first time I had played in a Clasico. But I talked with Nikola Mirotic, who had COVID so he couldn’t play. I spoke with him and he told me not to be nervous, just to do my work, do my best, and that’s what I did. I forgot about being nervous, focused on the game and did what Saras told me. I got confidence during the game, minute by minute, and that helped me a lot.”
"I was in a dream. After the game, I was thinking, ‘Wow, this just happened to me!’ But a lot of people said to me: you’ve passed the worst part, but you can’t get comfortable now. You have to keep working."
He never expected to play quite such a prominent role in the action, admitting that the whole experience left him slightly dazed: “I was in a dream. After the game I was thinking, ‘Wow, this just happened to me!’ But a lot of people said to me: you’ve passed the worst part, but you can’t get comfortable now. You have to keep working, keep improving. I mean, you did good, but you did nothing at the same time. This made me think I’m happy, but I know that I need to keep working.”
Martinez’s ongoing quest to become and remain an important player for the club means even more on a personal level because of his local roots and he takes pride in the way he has made the hard climb into the senior team of his boyhood club, which he first encountered thanks to his brother.
“At first I played football, but my older brother David played basketball and he was with Barca, so I started watching his games. I especially remember his games against Joventut in the Catalan derby. I liked it and told my mom I wanted to start playing, so I tried basketball and I liked it more than football. So I started playing more seriously and joined Barca when I was 11.
“When I was young my feeling for Barca grew because my grandfather was watching all Barca games. He’s the guy who gave me these feelings about Barcelona. He taught me how proud I feel about watching Barca games. He has passed away now and I wish he was still here to see me playing for the first team, but for sure he’s happy up there.”
Unsurprisingly, Martinez’s idol when he was growing up was Juan Carlos Navarro, and the 22-year-old emphasizes that his admiration for the former No. 11 stems from what he represented as much as his regular game-winning heroics.
“Juan Carlos Navarro was my favorite player because he was a guy like me, from Barcelona. He’s the icon of Barca, the identity of the club. I had the luck to practice with him when I was young, although I didn’t play with him. He’s a good guy with his teammates, he tries to help everybody and give his best in every situation. Now he’s the team manager and he has a really good relationship with all the players and staff.”
Martinez has not been the only young, home-grown player on view for Barca in recent weeks, with injuries forcing coach Sarunas Jasikevicus to delve deep into his roster and finishing the game against Zalgiris Kaunas with Martinez joined by a trio of teenagers all on the floor at the same time: Michael Caicedo, Rafa Villar and James Nnaji.
Martinez said that he is proud to be part of that big batch of locally developed talent: “It’s important to have examples like me and the other young players, for young kids to see this and believe they can do it too. For the fans, it’s very important to see people come from the youngest ages into the first team and I think they are proud of Barca because they see the club believes in young people who have come through the club.”
The deep feelings held by Martinez for his club are reflected in his all-action, fully committed style of play, and the forward explained: “I don’t care what position I play or the minutes I play. I just want to give my best for this club and help the team in the best possible way. This is what Saras said to me. 'Become a solid player, help us in whatever you can do.' This is my job, to help in any situation. It was a mark of confidence for Saras to tell me that, and it’s fantastic for me.
“It’s an amazing feeling, seeing how I have grown and how I have worked to be where I am. One part is the confidence of Saras to put me in the games and make me play, but another part is the individual work I have done, every day coming into practice, making sacrifices.”
"When I was young my feeling for Barca grew because my grandfather was watching all Barca games. He’s the guy who gave me these feelings about Barcelona."
The hard work and sacrifices must continue, though, and Martinez knows that there is a long way to go before he can even start to be considered in the same breath as his idol Navarro: “I’ve worked hard to get here but I haven’t finished. I have to keep working and keep improving to make my dreams come true.
“I want to have the feeling of helping the team win big games as many times as possible over the next few years. This club is more than one game. People remember games, but they remember your whole career more, everything that you do for a club. You don’t remember Juan Carlos Navarro just because he scored a lot of points in one game 10 years ago. You remember him because of his whole career, everything he did for the club.”
The next challenge, of course, is another Clasico – and Martinez is even more excited for Friday’s game because of one aspect that was missing from his big breakthrough last season: fans. “When it’s full, Palau Blaugrana is a totally different gym. It’s not the biggest arena in the EuroLeague, but when it’s full it’s another atmosphere and we’re playing with six players. The game against Madrid was amazing but it would have been even better with fans inside.”
On Friday night the fans will be there in full force, and whatever else happens Martinez will be playing with maximum intensity. He wouldn’t have it any other way.