By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Two flights, a drive of more than 600 kilometers in a near-empty road, and a 20-hour journey overall from St. Petersburg and Russia back to Barcelona, Spain. This is how Zenit St. Petersburg coach Xavi Pascual returned to his country after the VTB League season was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“Until last Thursday, we practiced regularly. until then, life in St. Petersburg had been relatively normal. But that night they canceled VTB League and the club gave us foreigners permission to return to our countries. And the same Friday, Putin announced that airports would be closing on Monday. Suddenly, we found that had a day to leave,” Pascual said to Mundo Deportivo.
The Spanish coach wanted to return to Barcelona. But there was no direct flight from St. Petersburg to his destination so he, along with his longtime assistant coach and friend Inigo Zorzano, had to embark on a kind of a journey.
“There was only one possibility: traveling from Saturday to Sunday from St. Petersburg to Moscow and from there to Madrid. There were great measures to ensure safety: They had to take your temperature, check that we were wearing masks and gloves which had been provided by our doctors. All workers were wearing masks and gloves, absolutely everyone. The airports were completely deserted. Then we boarded a flight from Moscow to Madrid in a place in which there would be 10 or 15 people and everyone was separated.”
When Pascual landed in Madrid he found out that there weren’t any planes to Barcelona until the next day. An alternative route was to be taken. “We arrived around two 2 in the afternoon and there was no flight to Barcelona until the next day. What are we going to do in Madrid? Stay at the airport? Looking for a hotel with the situation there? There would be so many hours waiting. The decision was to take two rental cars: Inigo for Logrono and me for Barcelona.”
On his way back to Barcelona, Pascual barely witnessed any other vehicles. “It was incredible traveling completely alone on the road. I only came across transport trucks and a few other cars. I dare say that in 600 kilometers, I didn’t see any more than 20 cars. I was stopped at two police checkpoints. They recognized me but I had to present all my documents, my passport, my work visa, and the plane ticket.”