Chus Mateo: "To beat Olympiacos, we have to play close to perfection"
"It's very difficult to play against us when we have the fans behind us," explained Musa.
Chus Mateo and Musa spoke ahead of the fourth game of the Euroleague playoff between Real Madrid and Olympiacos. The coach looked ahead to the game at the Movistar Arena (Thursday, 9:00pm CEST): "Playing as a team helps you understand better how to beat an opponent with so many strengths and good players. Yesterday we played well defensively, especially in the second half, with everyone pulling together and the fans cheering us on. It made us feel confident and helped us recover a lot of balls during the game."
"If we want to play well, we have to improve in all areas and go into tomorrow's game knowing that it will be tougher and that we have to play close to perfection."
Fournier's return
"Yes, he's going to play. We're certain that he will, and we'll prepare as if he's going to be there. If he's not, it won't be any easier. Yesterday wasn't easy. They're a great team that doesn't depend on one or two players. Regardless of whether he's there or not, we can't think that Olympiacos are weaker without him."
Mental approach
"We have to focus on taking each game as it comes. It's just one game. Yesterday is in the past and now we have to focus only on the next one. That's the way to approach it with more confidence. We have to be patient and not go crazy knowing how important the game is. We can't try to win the game in 39 minutes; we have to play 40. Experience tells us that we have to keep going until the end because we've turned around many games that were going against us."
Contribution from everyone
"Obviously, the more people who add positive things to the team, the better. The match has to be assessed over 40 minutes. That moment was very good defensively because we had just come through 30 minutes and we managed to take the game where we wanted it to be. It's a team effort, with balance in attack and defence. That's what we're looking for and it worked very well from start to finish."
Musa: "The key is to stick together"
"It's not easy to beat Olympiacos twice in a row, but we have the formula to play against them and beat them. They're a great team with a magnificent coach, but we also have our strengths. The key is to stick together so we can win another final and go to Athens to continue fighting for the Final Four."
Individual level
"Mentally, I'm fine. I want to approach the end of the season like this and fight for this badge every day and every game."
Fans
"It's very difficult to play against us when we have the fans behind us. It's very difficult to beat us at home and we need all their help. If we're all full of energy, I'm sure we'll win."
Vezenkov and Fournier
"Vezenkov is an extraordinary player. He's very talented, but this is a team sport. We don't care if Fournier plays or not, we're going to prepare the same way to win this game."