Xavi Pascual, Head Coach of FC Barcelona Regal speaks to Jack Majewski on the progress of the Euroleague season so far.
JM: How do you assess your season in Euroleague so far. You seemed to be sailing without much of a problem so far. The defeat against Siena should not change the overall picture.
XP: It’s been only one defeat in Euroleague and 2 in Liga Endesa. Not many I guess. We have already won first place in our group and this was our first important goal this season in the Euroleague. It has been a productive season so far. We have won the first two championships we have played (Catalan League and Spanish Supercup).
JM: How much did disappointments from the last season affect your performance in this current campaign? Is that additional motivation?
XP: It is not a disappointment at all. We won 4 of the 5 championships we played. I can’t consider it a bad season after all these achievements. We did not play in the final four but I am pretty happy with all the things we won.
JM: We are an organisation which is dealing with high profile events for a young players. Please explain why there are very few young players who play an important role in Euroleague or even Euro Cup teams. In the 80’s or 90’s teams like Jugoplastika and Partizan were able to dominate the European scene being based on a very young players.
XP: The competitiveness among the best clubs is very high and sometimes we do have enough time to spend with young players. The system of Jugoplastika was based in young players but this is a very unique case. The young players are the future and the teams need to expend more game time with them. But sometimes the teams need to win immediately and it is not easy. Anyway, most of the times young players need more time but for example Ricky Rubio started at the age of 14. Navarro at 17, it depends on each single player.
28.12.2011