Badalona (Barcelona), 17 Feb. Real Madrid coach Chus Mateo has admitted that although he didn’t face Barca in the Copa del Rey semi-finals on Saturday, “the pressure continues to exist”.
The Madrid coach, after training this Friday at the Palau Olímpic in Badalona, said they had “more options” to win the title than without their eternal rival in the tournament, “but at the moment , we only think of Unicaja”.
Mateo said the team will “miss” point guard Sergio Llull, who injured the inner lateral ligament in his left knee in the quarter-final against Valencia Basket (86-85).
“Llull’s injury affects the team because it is part of our soul, but we have players to face the semi-final successfully,” added the coach.
Chus Mateo has urged his players to play against Unicaja “less tense” than they did against the Valencian side, as he believes improving their accuracy in three-pointers and free-throws would have had “more margin points and peace of mind”.
Mateo said of their semi-final rivals Unicaja that they are “a very difficult team, which played very solidly, with confidence and with well-defined roles in the team”.
The coach commented that stopping Darío Brizuela, author of 27 points against Barça in the quarter-finals, is difficult, “but there will be ways” to do it: “It will be between all of us how we have to stop a player touched by the magic wand”.