The Copa del Rey in Valencia already has a roadmap. After the draw for the competition, held this Monday at the Palau de les … Arts Reina Sofía from the city of Turia, it can be said that Real Madrid, leader of the regular league in the ACB after a first round with a balance of 15-2, was the worst off. Sergio Scariolo’s team will open the tournament, which takes place from February 19 to 22 in the brand new Roig Arena, against Unicaja de Málaga on Thursday from 9:00 p.m. A complete reissue of the last final, played in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, to whet your appetite.
That first day of competition will open with the duel between the host and second place in the league, the powerful Valencia Basket of Pedro Martínez (13-4), and Joventut de Badalona, who will meet from 6:00 p.m. in a packed Roig Arena to inaugurate the Cup. The Taronja team, champion of the Spanish Super Cup, the first trophy of the season, takes on a unique opportunity to achieve the second cup title in its history, many years after that success of 1998 in Valladolid.
The winners of both quarter-final ties on Thursday will meet in the first semi-final on Saturday, set for 6:00 p.m. Meanwhile, the other side of the draw is not yet completely closed, since the suspension of the league duel between Gran Canaria and Baskonia means that the fourth seed is not known until the dispute of that match, next February 8.
For now, Barça, which has achieved a good record of 12-5 in the ACB League, avoids its great rival until a hypothetical final in which a classic would be possible. The Barça team, which reacted in a big way with the arrival of
This question will also reveal the third quarterfinal matchup, on Friday from 6:00 p.m., with La Laguna Tenerife as a guaranteed guest and once again the doubt between Baskonia and UCAM Murcia. The winners of the second day of competition will meet on Saturday from 9:00 p.m. to definitively set up the grand final on Sunday at 7:00 p.m.
A “different” Cup
«Many conditions are mixed to make it a different Cup. That everything is together, in the same space, will create an atmosphere that is difficult to match. Valencia is the place to be for many reasons. They have had a bad time and we want to help this serve to start smiling and having a good time,” explained Antonio Martín, president of the ACB, in reference to the venue of this edition of the Copa del Rey, a city that had not hosted the most special tournament in Spanish basketball since 2003.
