Víctor Luengo recognizes the great ‘taronja’ season and adds the desire for revenge against the Canaries
LAS PALMAS DE GRAN CANARIA, January 21. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of Dreamland Gran Canaria, Sitapha Savané, acknowledged that he expected a tough opponent in the quarterfinals of the Copa del Rey as they were not seeded, but he trusted that the host “will compete” in a tournament that is expected to be “very close.” , starting with a Valencia Basket that he sees as a “favorite” and that will arrive in a hurry for the debut against the Canaries.
“There is no good opponent when you have to play against the seeded teams. We knew from the start that we were going to have one of the favorites to win the Cup. Valencia is a favorite against us and to win the Cup, seeing the track record they have in the League Endesa and Eurocup,” he told the media after the draw this Tuesday in Las Palmas.
In addition, Savané referred to a very tight first round in the Endesa League to predict a very close Cup. “It is the most attractive thing about this Copa del Rey, other years you went to the slaughterhouse, there were two or three ogres, this season is being one of the most even. Barça is not seeded, everyone can beat anyone,” he said .
On the other hand, Savané explained the evolution of a Gran Canaria that for the moment has “recovered being in the Cup”, but that has to continue growing in the tournament and “compete” to go far after the bad precedents. In addition, the president of the team that will host the tournament from February 13 to 16 at the Gran Canaria Arena pointed to the recent duel against Valencia in the League.
“We have a recent precedent where we know that there is a way to beat them, but we have to be at our highest level, which has been difficult for us lately. We have to focus on recovering our best level more than in Valencia,” he noted, without “worrying.” due to the understandable current decline in his team’s play.
In the same way but with a different motivation, the director of external relations of Valencia Basket, Víctor Luengo, trusted that the ‘taronja’ team wants revenge, after the defeat (97-94) in Gran Canaria a month ago. “The players will have the motivation of having lost recently. The Cup is always an added reason but if you come from losing recently that confidence has to multiply,” he stated.
On the other hand, Luengo showed clear reasons to be optimistic, such as the fact that Valencia has been in the fight for the League lead during the first round. “We have the host team. It’s a complicated game, we don’t know how we’re going to get there. Our season is going very well but it’s difficult to say who will be the favorite. Playing in the Cup is always motivating. The last few times against Gran Canaria have been very tough games “You have to play very well,” he added, recognizing the Canarian “extra” of playing at home.