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Ioannis Sfairopoulos has previewed the seventh-round EuroLeague match in which Crvena Zvezda will visit Barcelona.
At the beginning of his presentation, the Greek coach pointed out that the Red-Whites are heading to Barcelona without three key players.
“With Branko Lazic, it’s still day by day, he feels better but not enough to start training. The same goes for Adam Hanga and his knee. Marko Simonovic is feeling better, but we decided to leave him out because his ankle is not yet at 100 percent, and we don’t want to worsen the situation, but he’s more prepared to play than the first two,” Ioannis Sfairopoulos stated.
The Crvena Zvezda head coach knows what the key to a potential victory in Catalonia is.
“We always strive to win. We know we’re up against a strong opponent with only one loss in the EuroLeague. They play at home and have beaten good teams, but we have our plan, and we’re going there to fight. The key will be controlling the rhythm and the ball. That’s the only way we can impose our style of play.”
The Greek coach had nothing but praise for the Barcelona team.
“They shoot well, run, have an excellent offensive game, scoring nearly 87 points at home. We need to play good defense, good defensive transition, and not allow open three-pointers. There have been changes compared to Jasikevicius’ team. They play faster, have more freedom from the coach to play more liberally.”
Ioannis Sfairopoulos concluded by expressing his satisfaction with the way his players have been working.
“I am pleased with the effort the players have put in. They want to adapt to my philosophy. We’ve had two training sessions, and they worked hard. We’ve finally focused on some details, and we’ll play better day by day, getting closer to my ideas.”
The match between Barcelona and Crvena Zvezda is scheduled for Friday at 20:30 in Blaugrana.