A few days after Xavi Pascual celebrates one month as Barça coach, Barça hosts Olympiakos in the Euroleague this Friday. The match will also be marked by the return to the Palau Blaugrana of an old acquaintance of the culé fans, Georgios Bartzokas, the current coach of the Greek team.
Georgios Bartzokas was chosen by the Blaugrana entity to replace Xavi Pascual after his departure in 2016. The Greek coach had established himself as one of the most prestigious coaches in Europe thanks to his great role with Olympiakos, the team where he won the Euroleague in 2013.
Georgios Bartzokas in the Blaugrana Palace
Bartzokas has a thorn in his side after his poor departure from Barcelona in 2017, having only completed one season of the three he had signed. The 60-year-old Greek signed one of the worst campaigns of the last decade, closing the Euroleague season eleventh, with 12 wins and 18 losses, without being able to enter the playoffs.
Xavi Pascual and his defensive seal
The arrival of Xavi Pascual to the Barcelona bench has caused a great improvement in all sections of the game. However, at a defensive level the progress is evident. Since the arrival of the Gavà coach, the team has not conceded 80 points in any of the five games played, with an average of 72.6 points conceded, fifteen less than under Joan Peñarroya.
Despite the good work of the Blaugrana team, Xavi Pascual wanted to highlight that they are still “missing many things” despite being on “the right path.”
We are missing many things, but we are on the right path.”
“In defense, we are running the rival transitions better, but we must improve the defense of the last seconds of possession. Offensively we are coming out faster, we are doing better, but we have a long way to go. We are halfway there,” Pascual explained in the pre-match press conference.
Pascual wanted to downplay the importance of his team’s good streak and focus on the demanding schedule that lies ahead for the culé team: “We play a lot of games and we have to be able to fight against that with the squad we have. There will be games in which it will be difficult for us to distribute minutes. We have to manage all the games. The cliché of game by game is true, but when you have a schedule like that you have to keep an eye on what’s coming.”
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Barcelona against Olympiakos will seek to add its fifth consecutive victory between ACB and Europe and establish itself at the top of the Euroleague standings.
