Badalona hosts an open Copa del Rey with no threat of a Clásico in the final

BADALONA, 15 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Palau Olímpic de Badalona (Barcelona) hosts from this Thursday to Sunday the so-called 'Spanish basketball festival', an 87th edition of the Copa del Rey that is presented with Barça and Real Madrid as rivals to be beaten by six eager teams to give the surprise in an appointment that will not have a Classic as final.

Since Baskonia won their last Cup in 2009 against Unicaja, the Blaugrana team, which is defending the title close to home, and the Real Madrid player have shared the cup trophies since 2010, seven for the first and six for the second but, in addition, they have starred in nine of those last 13 finals.

In this overwhelming dominance of the tournament, only Valencia Basket, with two lost finals in 2013 (Barça) and 2017 (Real Madrid), Gran Canaria, defeated in 2016 (Real Madrid), and Unicaja, who could not avoid the dominating merengue era in 2020.

But the draw for the draw wanted the two 'big' to have to face each other in a theoretical semifinal, which opens a great door for four other teams that are going the other way, including a serious contender like Cazoo Baskonia or the host Joventut, who will try to break a 'curse' that dates back to 2002, the last year the organizer, precisely Baskonia, lifted the Cup.

At the moment, Barça have won the last two editions and aspire to a treble that will allow them to catch up with Real Madrid in titles (28). The two are co-leaders in the Endesa League, with three defeats each, and appear in Badalona as the main rivals to beat.

Despite giving the impression, mainly in the Euroleague, of not being fully tuned, Sarunas Jasikevicius' men reach the Cup after ten consecutive league victories and they will put themselves to the test against an ambitious Unicaja, but who have never beaten them in this tournament in their seven matches and that comes after two consecutive defeats in the Endesa League.

The Cup will be a new test for Chus Mateo, still with the 'shadow' of Pablo Laso very close. Real Madrid will appeal to its offensive power and its good work in a tournament where the ciat has not lacked a final for a decade, but will face an excited opponent like Valencia Basket, also with many points in their hands and excited for celebrating the 25th anniversary of his only cup-bearing success, but he has not been able to beat his rival in the tournament either.

On Friday it will be the turn of the other Cup, to try to play an always precious final, between four balanced teams, but where Cazoo Baskonia and Joventut surely stand out, although only one of them can aspire to fight for the title since they cross paths in another exciting duel of rooms.

The Baskonistas, who have not played for the title since 2009, are not as 'sweet' as when they finished 2022, but in the league they have only lost four games and have the 'Markus Howard factor' against a host who recently warned them in the Buena Arena (83-84) and that will have the always important encouragement of its public to dream of a final 15 years later.

Finally, the Cup quarterfinal draw is completed with another very interesting clash, especially for being an unprecedented derby, the Canary Islander that will take on Lenovo Tenerife and Gran Canaria. Txus Vidorreta's men, encouraged by winning the Intercontinental Cup last Sunday and one of the best defenses of the season, will once again try to get into the final after losing in the semifinals in four of their last five appearances. Jaka Lakovic's men want to show their faces in their first Cup since 2018 and are looking to repeat their performance from 2016, when they came close to winning the title.