“This club always shows its face by winning and losing and scares its rivals”
MADRID, 21 May. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Real Madrid player Edy Tavares assured this Tuesday that he will fight “until the last game” to earn his renewal and be able to continue in a club that “always shows its face by winning and losing” and that “scares rivals”, something that He hopes it works in the semi-final of the ‘Final Four’ this Friday against an Olympiacos team that will have “the feeling of revenge” after losing the title to the Madridistas last year in the last breath.
“I have always said from the beginning that I have been negotiating the contract for almost a year and I have always thought the same, to fight to stay here, first, and then if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. Life goes on and that’s it, but I’m going to fight until the last game to be able to stay here,” Tavares assured the media at the white club’s ‘Media Day’ before the ‘Final Four’ of the Euroleague.
The center, whose contract expires at the end of this season, also chooses to renew Vincent Poirier, the best ‘5’ that he assures he could have as a teammate in the ‘paint’. “I hope he doesn’t leave because we get along very well and he is always willing to help, on and off the field. I hope he stays with us and that way we can both reach the end of the season with a lot of energy,” he said.
“Everyone has to decide where they want to go and be, but I hope he stays with us and when he plays I am the happiest guy in the world because in the end the team wins. I have to understand if one day a game is for him and not For me, I encourage him just as he encourages me. He is the best couple of ‘5’ I have ever had, because we have no ego, neither one nor the other, there are never bad faces,” confessed the Cape Verdean.
A Tavares who did not start in the best way this season but who reaches the final stretch well, to the fight for the big titles. “When the season started and the pneumonia and other things happened, it was a little difficult for me to get started. Being so big it is difficult for me to get back into the rhythm, but my goal has always been to reach the most important stage of the season well. and I think I’m achieving it. I’m in a good moment, comfortable, I can do everything I want to do,” he celebrated.
As for the ‘Final Four’, he believes that they arrive at a better time than last year, when they won the title, beating Olympiacos in the final by a single point (78-79). “Last year no one gave a damn about us or why we could come back in Belgrade, but we gave a plus and it gave us confidence and knowing how to suffer until the end. Against Olympiacos it was a game with a few points and having reached the final (and win) was gratifying,” he recalled.
“This year it’s the other way around, we’ve had a slightly better season than Olympiacos, but in the end it doesn’t matter, whoever comes in better will take the title,” said the center. “Olympiacos have very big people, they practically play like us and we will do everything possible to win again. I know that people say that (Poirier and I) are the best pair of ‘5’ of tall men, but in each game we have to prove that we are,” he highlighted.
“I think so, that the year we lost against Efes by one point gave us a lot of desire and anger and motivation to reach the ‘Final Four’ again last year and win. I think that now Olympiacos will have the same feeling of wanting the revenge and want to do it well. We do the same, we will do our best to win them,” he commented on the Piraeus’ desire for revenge.
As for Chus Mateo, the center believes that he arrives more prepared for this ‘Final Four’. “To all the coaches, but also to everyone in any job, it is very difficult to get into the rhythm and learn things. Chus Mateo didn’t have a bad time (last year), but he has done his best to get us to the ‘Final Four ‘And he is somewhat calmer, because he has been there for two years and knows what he has to do and that is how it has been seen, with the team’s success all year and with more confidence than last year,’ he said.
However, he is clear that in basketball “the past doesn’t count.” “If you don’t arrive well and things don’t add up and the balls don’t go in, you lose the game. Every game is different, it’s something different, and I hope we’re all good to be able to win the game,” he said.
Regarding Real Madrid being able to repeat what was achieved in 2018, with the ‘Champions’ won by the football team and the Euroleague by the basketball team, he considered that the club has “a ready-made DNA.” “Other clubs will win and lose but Real Madrid is always there and will always fight until the end. I don’t know if it’s luck, it’s the club, the atmosphere, but this club always knows how to suffer and knows when to attack and when not to. The club has something that you don’t know how to explain, that always shows its face by winning and losing and puts fear in rivals in important minutes,” he said.