BARCELONA, 3 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Real Madrid coach, Chus Mateo, stated after the defeat at the Palau Blaugrana against Real Madrid that it occurred for several reasons, such as the better physical tone of the Blaugranas or the atmosphere of a very hot Palau Blaugrana, but he regretted that the Roger Grimau understood the end of the clash “better”, in which they went up to an insurmountable +12 for the whites.
“We played a match fought until the end by both teams, probably until the third quarter everything was very, very equal. In the last quarter Barcelona knew how to make the most of their physicality. I think they were able to anticipate us, change us , of enduring many ones against ones and they have understood the ending a little better than us,” he said at a press conference.
“I think they deserved to win and we must congratulate Barcelona for the victory, without a doubt. And we think about what we can improve, we are doing a good job and just like when we won we try to turn the page soon, well today we will try to do the same and reflect on who we can improve,” said the white coach.
For Chus Mateo, the changes made by Grimau to give height to his team worked for him. “Barça wanted to play with a higher team, making constant changes, anticipating. I don't know if you noticed the detail. They took Kalinic to '2', they took Parker to '3' for a long time, they tried to raise centimeters, to improve their physique. If that detail seems trivial to you, it doesn't seem that way to me. It seems to me that they anticipated very well,” he commented.
“They did a great job of changes in a great job of anticipation and that took us out of the game a lot. I think it was a good approach from the opposing coach and it took us a lot out of the game. It often happens, there are moments where one doesn't score as many baskets, There are minutes where one team gets stuck and another defends better,” he said.
“Without a doubt, it is very difficult to win at the Palau, isn't it? Only one Euroleague team has been able to beat Barcelona here. Barcelona has been winning at home for a long time and today, obviously, that impetus and that effort, which surely Necessity also led Barcelona to make a greater effort, it was an important game for Barcelona,” he recalled.
In this sense, he pointed out that Barça's bad moment could have made them grow tonight. “”Because of how it came, that it came with some doubt and they have been able to dispel it, as I say, with the physical… The impetus of Barcelona today, the physical and of course the Palau have been important for them to keep the faith until the end, the last quarter was the final one,” he lamented.
However, Mateo remains calm in this Euroleague that they continue to lead. “Not for this, we are positioning ourselves, trying to position ourselves in the table to be as high as possible in the end and well, that is a bit of the way, the way has to be to go game by game, in this sense we do not have to focus beyond, neither in the past nor in the very distant future, in the directly immediate future,” he concluded.