"Rosell called the Paraguayan president to find me"

A lot of ink has been spilled in recent days concerning Tata Martino's appointment as Barcelona coach. Everything from his playing days to his approach as Newell's boss, his first few hours in Catalonia and even his dress sense has been discussed.

One crucial piece of this puzzle, however, has been overlooked: a little-known meeting involving Tata and Sandro Rosell several years ago.

The dinner meeting in question took place in Asunción and the pair was joined by none other than Horacio Cartes, currently the president of Paraguay and the long-time chairman of capital club Libertad, where Martino was the manager at the time. A good time was had by all and the three talked the night away.

Rosell was obviously impressed by the Rosario-born coach, because the Barça supremo attempted to contact the Argentine as soon as it became clear that Tito would have to step down. "He couldn't get hold of me, so he called Cartes to find me. And even when I found out he was trying to contact me, I still didn't understand what was going on. Not until I spoke to him", Martino explained in an exclusive interview with 'TN'.

"He told me he wanted to put me in touch with Andoni [Zubizarreta, Barça's director of football] and we started talking two or three days later. They eventually made the decision", he added. In the rest of the interview, Tata discusses Barcelona's stars, his relationship with Leo Messi and his aspirations in his new job.