Xavi Pascual: “Maccabi need to win and it’ll be a tough game”

Barça Regal head coach Xavi Pascual spoke to the media on Wednesday shortly before boarding the plane for Tel Aviv. On Thursday at 20.05 they are being entertained by Maccabi in the last of their Euroleague Top 16 fixtures.

"We’re emotionally strong, but we have to treat this as an important game even though there is no title at stake", said Pascual about the game in Israel. Both teams will be tired after winning their respective cups this week, and so “it’s difficult to predict what might happen. On Monday we could sense that the players were tired, so we’ll need to compensate in order to be ready.”

Offensive capacity

As for what he most fears about Maccabi, Pascual commented that "they need to win at home and so this’ll be a tough game against a very good team. They’re very quick, they have some small exterior players and can also play with four open players. They’ve also got a lot in the one on one … If Eliyahu doesn’t play, which hasn’t been confirmed to me yet, then his position can be covered by Davis and Pnini, so him being out has both pros and cons.”

Pascual ended by commenting on the important role Joe Ingles is playing in Europe. "He has to be as important as he has been until now. He’s been training hard with the group, and very well. Let’s hope he has a good game” said the Barça Regal manager.