Chus Mateo: “Every Clásico is different to the last"

Chus Mateo spoke in the buildup to Real Madrid-Barça on matchday 13 in the League (Sunday, 8:30pm CET): “It's a Clásico, there are no favourites. It's more than just another game to these two teams, it's a different match. The last two games are important, you can learn a lot, but every one of these games is different and they won't be similar to the last. You try and make the most of certain runs of form, but you have to understand, and make sure the players know, that a Clásico is totally unique. Every game is its own story."

“It's very difficult to manage a league as tough as the one we have this year, with teams who have strengthened and are playing some great basketball. The levels in the league increase year by year, it's more demanding all the time. Juggling it with the EuroLeague games, which are tough in terms of fatigue, and with such a full calendar, means the three teams who are playing in both competitions may struggle at times. We have almost no time to train and rest, and that will become the norm."

Barcelona's form
“I don't think about it too much, I wouldn't place much importance on each team's current form. It's important we capitalize on how we're playing, but you can find that in one or two good games. We have to be ready and the only thing we can ask of the team is to work hard and be ready when the time comes to catch the wave and ride it well. We have to ignore all we've done to this point, and also what's ahead of us. I don't consider this in the medium term, I'm only thinking about the present, our day to day efforts."

Defensive test
"Barcelona are strong on offense but we've come up against a lot of other teams just the same. It's not a definitive test. We have to find our defensive setup and we're gradually settling into that. We're among the teams who concede the fewest points, just look at the numbers. We've stepped it up in recent games, how we defend will be an important aspect of the game. They have players who can make a difference from every position, they're a great unit."

What needs to improve in 2025?
“I would like to see us gain in consistency, but I understand that starting a new season with more changes than we've been used to is pretty challenging. We have to adapt. We've lost four games by a single point, we have to accept things as they come in basketball. I would have liked to win those games. This year is different to others, we'll have to get up time and again but I have faith that this difficult road we're travelling will help us to be stronger in the key moments when we need to compete."