Chus Mateo: "Barça had a thorn in their side that made them play with more intensity"

"The staging has not been as expected"

BARCELONA, 13 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Real Madrid coach, Chus Mateo, lamented the bad start of his team this Thursday against Barça in the Euroleague, a victory for the azulgranas (75-73), who "had a thorn in their side" that made them play "with more intensity.

"We both know each other quite a lot, we've been playing a lot lately. What's clear is that Barcelona surely had a 'thorn' nailed down that made them play a point above us," explained the white coach at a press conference.

"There will be more occasions to face each other. Today they have had that point of intensity from the beginning. It is still a Euroleague game away from home and we hope to continue on the path of victory", added Chus Mateo, who also highlighted the last your team's room.

"I'm happy with the end, we defended well and fought, we found a little light when the game didn't look good, but we had a lot of ups and downs during the game and in the end we paid for it. They punished us excessively," he said about the last quarter, where Llull unsuccessfully attempted the decisive basket to overcome the buzzer.

Asked about his starting five, Mateo tried to surprise without Poirier and Tavares. "We were looking to get Sanli out of his zone, try to find some open shot against him. Playing away from home was not what we expected. They weren't both, but we surrounded them with Hezonja and Deck. The problem came in the low position of Satoransky, We have to learn from this situation," he added.

"The bad start has marked the match, we have been able to come back on a couple of occasions. But the staging has not been what we expected. We have been soft at the back, not very forceful when we have to use a little more physicality", he lamented the Madrid coach.

Asked about the turnovers, Chus Mateo assessed the improvement after the last few games where it was a negative slogan for the Whites. "We have not been convincing. The losses have not been as many as in other days. We have taken good care of the ball in the second half, but we still lack the fluidity that I would like to find little by little. We have problems finding some released shots", sentenced.