“The responsibility is mine: I have not managed to let our people know that this is a final, I have not managed to close the games “. With this self-criticism Sarunas Jasikevicius abandoned the Copa del Rey on the night from Thursday to Friday. His team had just lost in extra time against Unicaja de Málaga, which was advancing round. Because it wasn’t a final, it was the quarterfinals. The culé team, champion in 2021 and 2022, was dropped at the first exchange in the Badalona appointment. “You have to sit down with the ‘staff’ and with the boys and see things. We were not able to take the next step to evolve”, expanded in that appearance before the media. Ibon Navarro won the game on the bench by making Will Thomas play well in the low post, Tyler Kalinoski for blocking, relying on a titanic Darío Brizuela (record cupbearer) and with a play that he executed several times in decisive moments and that Barça did not know how to defend. No solutions for it.
the club has lost the two options you have had so far this season, that of the Super Cup when they fell in Seville with Madrid and this one of the Cup at the Olympic. They have the two long-term tournaments left: the League, which they already took from the whites two years ago, and the Euroleague, which continues to resist them despite having stepped on the Final Four the last two years.
Is now the moment when it is convenient to see the unit of Barcelona around the figure of Saras, who left the Cup with internal doubts and seeing his team waste good advantages again. It is an evil that, as he assures, he is not knowing how to break: this Barça does not annihilate rivals on many occasions, it gives more options for them to get into the fight.
“I have had in my career so many situations that my contract ended… I have experience, I will try to do my job in the best possible way. It’s not all up to me. You don’t have to talk or think much about it, you have to focus on what’s next. What has to happen will happen. The two of us, Barça and I, will be fine without a doubt. Not all decisions depend on one. I am not worried about this situation at all. I only focus on the team and having a good season. If we win titles and finish well, people will be happy.”stressed this month in What do you play? (string SER) when asked about renewal. His contract ends in the summer and at that time there had been no contact. Now, after the defeat, Barcelona has been quick to say that they have contacted the agents of the Lithuanian coach, the head of the bench since 2020, to calm the waters in some particularly difficult days within the club.
