Barça returns to Fontajau, just over 15 years later. Saturday, a little later than the duel between the Girona and the Blaugrana soccer team, there will be another one for ACB basketball, unpublished since October 27, 2007, at the Sant Narcís Fairs. It was a duel on the benches between Pedro Martinez i Dusko Ivanovic, settled in overtime (85-89) after the former Akasvayu wasted the last possession to win the game and avoid it. The desired play did not come out, but Marc Gasol, author of 19 points that day, was released in the triple, he tried, and his shot did not go in. Lakovic (30) would end up being the executioner of Girona in a duel that Jordi Trias, now a commentator for Barça’s matches in the ACB, in Catalan, for Movistar+, experienced with the Barcelona team. “I remember perfectly that game and the triple that Marc missed that would have defeated us. It was a very even duel and we ended up getting carried away by Lakovic’s supporter, making a good pair of bases with Pepe Sanchez».
Girona-Barça on Saturday (20.45) opens a second round that must serve Aíto’s team to finish sealing a stay on track with the last four victories in a row. Trias emphasizes that the derby “arrives at the best time for Girona”, which has clearly gone from less to more “as Aíto’s teams do”, and despite giving the Blaugranas as favorites “I’m not ruling anything out either, let alone playing in Fontajau”. Trias will announce the duel alongside Pere Flores, and it is already his third year as a television analyst. “I like it, at first it was something new for me, but I like basketball so much that I feel very comfortable doing this task”, he says.
On the improvement of Girona, Jordi Trias points to the individual step forward of several players, and that the backbone formed by Quino Colom, Taylor and Marc Gasol is also going through a good time. According to him, “I like the team’s defense more than the attack, defensively you can tell that they are an Aíto team, pressing the passing lines, the base and the rival player who has the ball. They are always well placed and this has been the key to start adding victories”. From here it also stands out from other actors like Miletic, Fjellerup, Paul Figueras o Eric Villawhich have also evolved and contribute.
“For me the favorite is Barça, who are also very good now, although Girona have improved a lot and have the advantage that they will come from a classic against Madrid in the Euroleague on Thursday. Jasikevicius he usually makes more rotations and gives minutes to the less regulars when he plays in the ACB against rivals who are not from the top and here there can also be options”, adds the ex-pivot from Girona, who played in the old CB Girona, in the current Básquet Girona in the LEB Plata, and in Barça, among other teams.
In that last precedent in Fontajau fifteen years ago, Trias ended up contributing eight points in 21 minutes of play. “I remember there was a lot of atmosphere”, he points out. Like now, when Fontajau rubs the floor in every game. “Girona is a basketball city and it shows with the desire to see ACB again and also with the successes of Uni and the crowd it also brings to the pavilion”, he says. And he adds: “every match is a Girona-Barça or a Girona-Madrid, Fontajau is always on fire”. On Saturday, the full house is guaranteed, with tickets sold out months ago by fans who dream that this time it will be expensive.
