Trinchieri on Barca: 'If they play good and we play excellent, they still may win' / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: BasketNews/Begum Unal Credit BasketNews/Begum Unal

The next big EuroLeague adventure for FC Bayern Munichhas begun.After making club history last season by reaching the EuroLeague playoffs for the first time, Bayern has repeated the feat for the second consecutive year.

Bayern grabbed the final spot in the playoffs after finishing the regular season with a 14-4 record where they will meet FC Barcelona, the winner of the regular season.

Barca will try to reach its second consecutive Final Four and Bayern will be looking to get there for the first time in club history. Barcelona has a 7-3 record in EuroLeague games against Bayern.

Head coach Andrea Trinchieri shared his thoughts to the media before the upcoming game.

"It's first against eighth and I think 90 percent of the world expects a 3-0, but we will fight and I just hope our team will be in good shape, mentally and physically, after all the problems with Covid and injuries," coach said.

"We have now played 45 days without our guards, respectively the others have been very overloaded. But of course there's always hope, and in our case that means that Nick Weiler-Babb is back, even if he's not in the best shape yet," Trinchieri added.

"If they play good and we play good, they are going to win. If they play good and we play excellent, they still may win. Okay, so they are No. 1, we are No. 8. We miss players, we are fighting, we are crawling. One game at a time," he pointed out.

The captain of Bayern, Vladimir Lucic expressed respect to Barcelona as well.

"No matter what team we get, people will consider us underdogs. Barcelona is one of the best, or even the best team in the EuroLeague this season with a lot of guys who are on this level for a long time," the player added.

"They’ve had the chance not just to play a lot of playoff games in the EuroLeague, but also Final Fours. They have a great, experienced head coach, one of the best in Europe. It’s definitely a big challenge for us, but we will like the year before go there to compete in every game," Lucic concluded.

The long-term Bayern player Nihad Djedovic also gave his thoughts before the playoffs.

"Barcelona are still a bit better in the little things than all the other top teams. You have to be concentrated for 40 minutes, otherwise you have no chance of winning. But we never give up," the player commented.

The first matchup of the serieswill start on Tuesday in Barcelona.

Like what we are doing? Support us by becoming BN+ member.