Aíto considers that his Básquet Girona arrive at the match with a “lack of preparation”, and Sarunas Jasikevicius says that it is “a mystery” to know how Barça are, but with more or less filming, what is clear is that the League semi-final Tonight’s Catalana in Tarragona (9pm/Esport3) is an unbeatable showcase to see the degree of maturity of both teams a week before the start of the Endesa League. After an interesting pre-season, which has seen glimpses of the quality that have new faces like those of Quino Colom, Taylor or Miletic, the hour of truth arrives with the first title at stake.
Fjellerup and Prkacin just arrived in Fontajau last Friday to put themselves under the coach’s orders, having finished their international commitments. That’s why Aíto points out that the team “lacks preparation but especially the two of them, who will need time to know what we do and the teammates”, although both the Argentine and the Croatian are part of the call-up that will go to Tarragona and it seems obvious that they will have the first minutes of the course. Garino can also make his debut, who arrived a few days ago after leaving the Argentine national team due to injury and who would be recovered and ready to compete. In fact, García Reneses will have 11 of the 12 players in the squad today (Maxi Fjellerup, Èric Vila, Kameron Taylor, Pol Figueras, Roko Prkacin, Quino Colom, Dusan Miletic, Josep Franch, Ondrej Hanzlik, Pato Garino and Marc Gasol) more Aleksandar Bursac who is in Girona to increase the level of training. Sorolla is traveling but is still out due to plantar fasciitis. Despite the absences, Girona has had a good pre-season, with a double win against Joventut, for example, and minimal defeats against Manresa and Gran Canaria.
The coach of Barça, Sarunas Jasikevicius, also has doubts and is convinced that it will be “difficult” for his team to play against Girona because the performance they can offer is a “mystery”. “We have seen very little of all the players together. They are very eager, but it is a mystery what situation we are in. Those who come from playing in the European Championship are in good shape, but as a whole it will cost us”, he said.
Cory Higgins, Álex Abrines, Oriol Paulí, Oscar da Silva, Kyle Kuric and Sergi Martínez started pre-season on August 28, but internationals Nico Laprovittola, Nikola Kalinic, Jan Vesely, Sertac Sanli, Rokas Jokubaitis, Mike Tobey and Tomas Satoransky joined the team between Thursday and Friday. Mirotic is still recovering from his Achilles tendon issues and will not be there.
