MADRID, 18 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish men's basketball team will gather in Zaragoza starting this Monday to begin preparing for the start of the qualifying phase for the 2025 Eurobasket with the dispute of its first two games against Latvia and Belgium.
The current European champion will meet in the Aragonese capital where she will carry out her training sessions at the Prince Felipe Pavilion where on Thursday she will face Latvia in her first match of this 'window', a match with the scent of revenge after the Latvian victory in the past World Cup. Subsequently, the national team will travel to Belgium to face the Belgian team on Sunday the 25th in the town of Charleroi.
This concentration is marked by the presence of the Catalan point guard Ricky Rubio (Barça), who was summoned by coach Sergio Scariolo despite the fact that the one from El Masnou has not yet played since he left the concentration for the World Cup in Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines to “take care” of your mental health.
At the end of January, after confirming his goodbye to the NBA, Rubio rejoined Barça's training sessions, which announced at the beginning of February that it was hiring him to play in the Euroleague and the Endesa League, although it would be the player himself who would decide when. back to the slopes. It must be remembered that the game director has not played internationally since the last Tokyo Olympics.
From the list announced by Scariolo, some notable absences also stand out, such as those of center Willy Hernangómez (Barça), that of point guards Sergio Llull (Real Madrid), Lorenzo Brown (Maccabi) and Juan Núñez (Ratiopharm Ulm) and that of forward Alex Abrines (Barça) who, according to the coach himself, had asked not to attend “for exclusively physical reasons of being able to use this week to recover and rest.” Furthermore, Santi Aldama could not attend either because he played in the NBA with the Memphis Grizzlies.
In addition, the coach will have six young players to complete training this week, such as Sergio de Larrea (L'Horta Godella), Hugo González (Real Madrid), Lucas Langarita (Casademont Zaragoza), Eli John Ndiaye (Real Madrid), Jordi Rodríguez (Joventutd) and Mario Saint-Supery (Tizona Burgos).
–LIST OF CALLED.
BASES/GUARDS: Carlos Alocén and Alberto Abalde (Real Madrid), Darío Brizuela (Barça), Alberto Díaz (Unicaja) and Jaime Fernández (Lenovo Tenerife).
FORWARDS/POWERS: Víctor Claver (Valencia Basket), Rudy Fernández (Real Madrid), Juancho Hernangómez (Panathinaikos), Xabi López-Arostegui (Valencia Basket) and Joel Parra (Barça).
PIVOTS: Jaime Pradilla (Valencia Basket), Sebas Saiz (Alvark Tokio) and Yankuba Sima (Unicaja).