By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
The Russian invasion of Ukraine is at the global epicenter and Barcelona head coach Sarunas Jasikevicius was asked to comment on the current state of events following his team’s win over MoraBanc Andorra in the Spanish Liga Endesa on Tuesday night.
The Lithuanian coach commented that he gets up in the morning and the first thing he does is pick up his cell phone, hoping that Kyiv is still Ukrainian territory, while he reiterated his support to the people of Ukraine and was critical of Spain’s stance:
“Perhaps here you do not realize the magnitude because you are very far away”, Jasikevicius told reporters. “We have lived in that part of the world and we know what is happening. Spain and Catalonia need to take this [war] a little more seriously. It has to stop now. We don’t know how far this man can go. We must help the Ukrainians as much as we can. As a Lithuanian citizen, I am going to follow the advice of my government, putting basketball in the background if necessary”.
“It is an old ambition of a man [Putin] and this cannot go any further. If people think that [this is distant], they are wrong, very wrong. This can escalate very quickly”, commented the Barcelona playcaller.
“It’s already escalating to a level we never thought could happen in 2022. It’s happening. I have always been against talking about politics, I hate this part of the world. But this is not politics, it is a war. I think this country [Spain] needs to be a little more assertive. I know what I’m getting into, maybe too much because it’s not my country. But as a Lithuanian, I show my full support. The truth is that there are things that make you cry when you see it on videos, when you see it on Facebook, what is happening and how the Ukrainians are holding up. Surely, when our life passes this will be a black stain. Too bad we are going through the pandemic and this in such a short time, which is perhaps even worse”.