By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Real Madrid advanced to the EuroLeague Final Four for the second year in a row after beating Panathinaikos in Game 4 of the playoffs and winning the series 3-1.
When asked if his team is the favorite in the Final Four, Real head coach Pablo Laso admitted that his team always has this label for him.
“I always think Real Madrid is a favorite team. I always think that Real can always win. I’m sorry but that’s the way it is. I heard Xavi at the beginning of the series that we are the favorite. That’s great. I am the coach of Real Madrid. We have to accept that. That doesn’t change anything. Of course, I have my view on how difficult things are for us, but that’s for me.”
Regarding the qualification to the Final Four, Laso said the following: “I’m very happy in a special year, with all the difficulties we had. I’m very proud of my players, they kept fighting from the day that Llull fell in the summer. We never gave up, we stayed focused, we knew it would be hard but I feel very happy for my team, for everybody who works here – the assistants and people who work every day to achieve goals like this. It’s a great day for us. I think these kinds of games are like finals. We played great for 25-26 minutes, got a big lead, but sometimes when you get a big lead against a team with that kind of heart it’s difficult to maintain your concentration. They had some important threes, they opened the floor, they have great one on one players, and it was difficult. You see the victory so close you stop a little bit, but we kept our composure and were able to close the game at the end.”