Chus Mateo: “We did as much to win the game as Partizan did”
“Mentally and in terms of morale, we'll be 100% on Thursday; we'll fight to the end,” underlined the coach.
Real Madrid coach Chus Mateo assessed the opening EuroLeague playoff game against Partizan at the WiZink Center: “It was a really tough game from the first minute until the last. Both teams knew that's what we were in for. It's a tough time and we have to get over it and move onto the next one. We have to fight until the end, I'm proud of the boys. Both teams did enough to win the game. It came down to tiny details at the end. We are Real Madrid and we'll keep fighting.'
'Mentally and in terms of morale, we'll be 100% on Thursday, I'm sure of that; and physically, we'll fight to the end. Today hasn't gone our way but we'll keep going. We conceded a lot of three-pointers early on and we felt Tavares absence in the second half. Despite all that, the team did really well, especially in the third quarter and we built up a seven-point advantage. We had chances to win it. We're Real Madrid and we will keep fighting.'
Tavares
“They'll run tests on him tomorrow and we'll see what the problem is, we hope it's nothing serious. He took a knock to the knee and the pain persisted. I can't make any guesses.'
Final triple
“We decided to defend the final play and we did a good job. Punter shot over Yabusele and he deserves a lot of credit.'
'Mentally and in terms of morale, we'll be 100% on Thursday, I'm sure of that; and physically, we'll fight to the end. Today hasn't gone our way but we'll keep going. We conceded a lot of three-pointers early on and we felt Tavares absence in the second half. Despite all that, the team did really well, especially in the third quarter and we built up a seven-point advantage. We had chances to win it. We're Real Madrid and we will keep fighting.'
Tavares
“They'll run tests on him tomorrow and we'll see what the problem is, we hope it's nothing serious. He took a knock to the knee and the pain persisted. I can't make any guesses.'
Final triple
“We decided to defend the final play and we did a good job. Punter shot over Yabusele and he deserves a lot of credit.'