By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Giorgos Bartzokas returns to Piraeus for the first time since he left Olympiacos. He will be honored by his old team and after today’s practice he admitted that this game will be special for him.
However, the coach of Barcelona has only the right result on his mind. As he said: “For me it is a very special moment the return to a place where I have good friends and great memories, but we have to focus only on winning and not thinking about anything else. I do not play, Barca plays. I expect the same attitude we had in the game against Murcia and above all, focus on this rival and not think about Real Madrid (ed.note: next opponent in Euroleague). Olympiacos will be a very difficult, tough opponent with good players who have great experience at the highest level. We know our potential despite our injury woes and we must be competitive. Olympiacos is a very good offensive team with a talented squad and we don’t have to concentrate only at Vassilis (Spanoluis) but also the rest”.
Barca has five injued players (Pau Ribas, Shane Lawal, Juan Carlos Navarro, Justin Doellman and Victor Claver) and as Bartzokas pointed out “we only had one day to practice. We are prepared for this game, even if we do not have all our players available. It’s a problem for us, but it’s what we have to deal with and we’ll have to play as hard as we can because we do not have our full roster. It is still difficult for everyone to adapt to the new format, we are still in pre-season mood and we need time. Still we know precisely what needs to be done”.