Round two against Panathinaikos

Round two against Panathinaikos

Lorbek and Sada agree that the second match of the quarter-final series against Panathinaikos is crucial if the Blaugrana want to qualify for the Final Four

No one has forgotten what happened two seasons ago at the Palau and that’s why tomorrow’s match against Panathinaikos is “key” in order to qualify for the Final Four in London. “It’s very important to win the second match of the series. It would give us a huge advantage and it would allow us to be much more calm in the remaining games of the series,” said Erazem Lorbek this Wednesday. The Slovenian expects “an even match just like the first one” and he admitted that “if we had been on target on Tuesday, we would have won with a bit more ease.”

Lorbek’s view is shared by Víctor Sada, who added: “we will have to be cool under pressure and we’ll have to be much more active than we were this Tuesday. We have to give it our all and not focus too much on our shooting errors.” Sada admitted that he relishes matches like the one this past Tuesday and that his individual performance against the Greek side gave him a lot of confidence ahead of tomorrow’s match.

Focused on playing well

The Catalan explained that the team must focus on putting in a good performance and forget about potential controversial calls from the referee: “it seems as though it’s in style to condition the referee before games. It happens a lot in football. The series from two years ago should show us that that kind of behaviour is not appropriate. We have to focus on playing well.”

Lastly, when asked about Barça Regal’s long list of injured players, Sada said, “we have to move forward with the team we have. This Tuesday, we struggled to defend the post. It was exhausting. With that said, I’m sticking with the positive things that come with having a lot of teammates injured: you get to play more and that gives you confidence. You can always give a bit more of yourself.”

Força Barça
Força Barça

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