Barça seeks the weekly plenary session against Bayern
BARCELONA, 1 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Barça receives Bayern Munich this Thursday at the Palau Blaugrana (8:30 p.m.), on matchday 23 of the Regular Phase of the Euroleague, in a duel in which the ‘culés’ seek the weekly full session after the recent victory against Maccabi and continue to put pressure on the leader Olympiacos.
Again, this week with two days they can move the table and, for the moment, Barça is on the right track. Beating Bayern would allow them to continue at the top of the table and, incidentally, would help boost morale, opening a new winning streak.
Although it will not be easy, because in front of them is a Bayern in need, who is fighting to get out of the lower zone and get closer to a ‘Playoffs’ that now have three wins to go. A slow-playing, rocky Bayern, which will be another tough test for the blaugrana.
“Bayern is a very physically and mentally tough team. The games against them are never pretty, you have to know how to suffer and have concentration. Possessions will be long, they play with patience, and it’s important to close those possessions with good one-on-one defense and rebound”, warned the Barça coach, Sarunas Jasikevicius, in the preview.
To try to complete the perfect week, it will be important for Nikola Mirotic to continue progressing at the offensive level, although ‘Saras’ believes that “he is better” despite the lack of shooting. Against Maccabi, he stayed at 11 points, in a more choral performance by the team with 10 from Jan Vesely, 14 from Rokas Jokubaitis and 15 from Cory Higgins.
An important victory in a disputed duel, which the blaugranas had to overcome in the last quarter, after a disastrous third set. But the ‘culés’ recover feelings to become strong in the fight for the ‘Playoffs’ and forget the previous setback in the Classical.
Against Bayern, in 14th position and 5 victories less than the blaugrana, the Catalans must do their homework. Try to improve consistency and competitiveness throughout the match, but above all win to avoid another relapse.
Without last-minute casualties, the blaugranas will go all out for the Bavarian team, which has just lost at La Fonteta against Valencia Basket (82-73) and see its mini-streak of two previous consecutive victories cut short, against Virtus Bologna and Anadolu Efes Istanbul.
BARÇA: Satoransky, Laprovittola, Kalinic, Mirotic and Vesely –possible starting five–; Da Silva, Sanli, Abrines, Higgins, Kuric, Tobey and Jokubaitis.
BAYERN MUNICH: Winston, Weiler-Babb, Bonga, Rubit and Gillespie –possible starting five–; Walden, Giffey, Hunter, Jaramaz, and Seeley.
–REFEREES: Belosevic, Mogulkoc and Majkic.
–HALL: Palau Blaugrana.
