Chus Mateo: "We won thanks to our tenacity and perseverance"

Chus Mateo and Sergio Llull analysed Real Madrid's victory over Valencia Basket in the Euroleague. The coach assessed the game in the WiZink Center press room: "There are a lot of games and it's normal that there are some where it's hard for us to find our rhythm. Whether you like it or not, in the end the level of focus can't always be the same. We almost don't know in which city we wake up or on which day of the week. Sometimes, when there is not so much concentration, my duty is to try to wake them up. They are titans and they are fighting like champions. I'm very proud of them."

"You can't always sparkle. We have a high level of passing, ball circulation, rebounding, etc... but today it was a game where we had to get down in the dirt a little bit. We fought to get into the game. It was tough at first, but tenacity and perseverance got us into the game and gave us the win. I'm happy for another win, to keep on winning and to be in the top half, because being first or second is a merely incidental point and what we have to do is get to the playoffs with home-court advantage."

Llull: "We deserved to win"
"We knew it would be a tricky game. They started very well and we didn't find any defensive solutions, but I think that in the end the team made a great effort and we were the better team in overtime and we deserved to win."

Comeback
"It's in our DNA, the character of this club is to never give up. In the end, when the game is evenly matched and you're even behind on the scoreboard, you find the strength where it seems there is none to try to turn it around. Today we did it again, but it would also be good to win in 40 minutes."

Tribute
"I'm very happy, very proud and also very grateful to the fans for their support during these 18 seasons. They've always been there, supporting me and have identified with me very much. They've helped me a lot to keep improving and to be able to play more games for Real Madrid."