By Alex Molina/ info@eurohoops.net
Barcelona not only lost to Real Madrid but may have an even bigger issue to face. Brazilian point guard Raul Neto played less than four minutes and he was injured again, as coach Joan Penarroya confirmed.
“Neto has hurt his abductor and has not been able to play anymore”, said Penarroya after the game. “After Juan Nunez’s fifth foul, we need him. Now we’ll see what the tests say, let’s hope it’s not too bad.”
Neto was added to replace Nicolas Laprovittola, who is missing the season, with Barcelona being hesitant to add Neto due to his long list of injury woes.
Speaking about the game, Penarroya added: “Losing at home and losing against a rival like Real Madrid and how we lost… We reached the end of the match in an advantageous position and for it to slip away like this… the team is hurt. It is still a game like the previous eleven, but a “Clásico” is a “Clásico” and it hurts a lot not to be able to offer victory to our fans.”
However, the season is long as he stated in the end: “Today we lost an important match but we didn’t lose a title. We can be defeatists, but we are one victory ahead of the team we lost to today. The detail of whether we won or lost today was very fair. Would we be elated if we had won? The team has to be prepared to compete well.”