Marc Bartra: 'Learning from your mistakes helps you grow'

The defender speaks to the media ahead of Sunday's La Liga opener versus Athletic Club at San Mamés

After having spent the summer on an American Tour, appearing in the perennial coming out party of the Joan Gamper Trophy, and playing in two Super Cups — continental and domestic — the weekly challenge of La Liga is finally back.

And defending FC Barcelona's league title is just one of the challenges that motivates Bartra. "I feel energetic, much more mature this season, and it's a very good time for me, both personally and professionally," he told the media during Friday morning's press conference at the Ciutat Esportiva.

The centre-back stressed that this league title "has to be defended like never before" and he explained that the team's disappointing defeat in the Spanish Super Cup would help them "to go harder."

"Learning from mistakes is what makes you grow," he emphasised.

Here are some of the highlights of what Bartra had to say during the press conference:

On the start of La Liga:

"The season is opening at a special time for me, both personally and professionally. I want to keep winning at Barça."

"We have to reboot, understand what we're up against, and go all out. We have to forget about the past and focus on the present."

On facing Athletic Club for the third straight game:

"Athletic are a tough team and the best we can do is come back, play good football, and get the three points."

"When things don't go very well one day, I really want to have another shot at that day. Barça are lucky enough to be competing again very quickly and there are lots of ways we can learn from our mistakes."

"We play well as a team and we make mistakes as a team as well. We have to improve in all aspects and try to avoid individual errors."

"Aduriz is a striker who's scored a lot of goals and he really knows how to move. He's pretty clever and we have to be at a high level, but above all we have to be ourselves."

On Pedro's transfer:

"Losing Xavi and Pedro hasn't made us weaker. I'm going to miss them a lot but teams like Barça lose very good players and get back very good players."

"We still have a good group of homegrown players. You can't always bring up players who are ready for the first team. But with those who have joined us from other clubs, we'll continue to be unstoppable."

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