By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
The new blog entry of Juan Carlos Navarro to Euroleague.net is a call to arms for Barcelona!
Among other things, the captain of Barca wants him team to mount a come back in the playoffs race!
It is a back-to-back EuroLeague week and not only do we play against Baskonia on the road, but also against EA7 Emporio Armani Milan at home. We have to start winning and only think of our really important game at Buesa Arena. Everyone in the team is aware of the situation we are in. We have to step up, and I have to be the first to do so. We play in Vitoria, a place in which you will lose generally if you don’t things right. All these losses make us a bit more nervous, especially in close games because we must win at all times. We have to show that we are a great team, with character. We only have two road wins – against Unics in Kazan and Maccabi in Tel Aviv – and of course, winning at home is mandatory for us.
A new year is here and all I ask in 2017 is to be healthy. It is what I ask for every year and it is something I don’t always get! The best thing that happened to me in 2016 was the Olympic bronze medal. I remember I said in my previous blog that we won EuroLeague titles in 2003 and 2010, so 2017 may be the right moment for us. Well, right now we are not even in the situation to think about it. The goal, however, is to start getting better, make it to the playoffs territory as soon as possible and improve as a team. We have a good roster and must believe in ourselves. Yes, we had a lot of injuries. Yes, we didn’t have – or won’t have – our full roster in any single game this season. We talked about it and had difficulties; I have never saw anything like this in all my years in this team, but that’s it. No more excuses. We have to look forward with the 13-14 players we have available.
So, I wish EuroLeague players a lot of health, too, as well as all the best to every EuroLeague fan out there. Personally, I believe all players think it is exciting to play against the best teams in Europe. At the same time, it is very demanding and you can tell with the number of injuries in the competition. So, I wish every player to be healthy, especially everyone on my team; we already had enough injuries, don’t you think? Everyone loves to play against the best teams and the best players, all of them, to offer the best show we can on the court!