Chus Mateo: “With Maccabi you can’t be careless, they are a team with many resources”

Madrid, Nov 27 (EFE).- Chus Mateo, coach of Real Madrid, declared this Monday that Maccabi Tel Aviv, whom they will face tomorrow in the postponed match of the sixth day of the Euroleague, is “a team with many resources in front of which you cannot be careless, knowing that nothing is resolved in the first quarter and you have to see it through to the end.

The match, due to the war conflict in the area, will be played in the Aleksandar Nikolic Hall pavilion in Belgrade.

“We have to be consistent for forty minutes. With them you can’t get careless because they have a lot of individual and collective resources. We have to be attentive, play a long game and know that nothing is resolved in the first quarter and we have to take it to the end. The more stable we are and the fewer ups and downs we have, the more options there will be to win,” said Chus Mateo, at a press conference, prior to the match.

“Maccabi is a very demanding opponent with a lot of offensive talent on the outside and a powerful inside game. Physically, it is a team that pushes you to the limit and plays at a very high pace. It is certainly not going to be an easy game,” he said.

Except for the absence due to injury of the Frenchman Guerschon Yabusele, the other members of the first team are able to participate. “They are players who work very well on their physique and take care of themselves. These two weeks in particular in the Euroleague will be extremely demanding with four away games,” he said.

The calendar until the end of the year is tight, and the Madrid coach will have to manage it in the best way to seek good results.

“While it is true that we have it in our heads, we only think about the next game because that helps us a lot. We only think about a rival that deserves our respect, that is having a great Euroleague and that is a favorite to enter the playoffs. The rest will come. If you win every game it gives you energy and helps you build from victory. We are doing the distribution of minutes well and what it is about is continuing to add victories to position yourself in the best possible position. It’s a long-distance race and now we are at the head of the pack. We have things clear,” he declared.

Bosnian Džanan Musa, Real Madrid forward, highlighted how “dangerous” Maccabi is, having “good one-on-one players like Lorenzo Brown or Baldwin IV.”

“We know what we have to do to win but it’s not going to be easy, which is nothing more than rebounding, running and defending,” Musa concluded.