Check out what the coaches and players are saying ahead of Round 4 of the 2025-26 EuroLeague season
Pregame quotes, Round 4: 'To beat Efes, we'll have to bleed'
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Tuesday, October 14
Maccabi Rapyd Tel Aviv vs. FC Barcelona (19:00 CEST)
Oded Kattash, Maccabi head coach
"We’re heading into a very special week, facing two good and talented teams, each a bit different. We’re in our own process; no doubt these are important experiences for us. We’re coming into it in relatively good shape. Hopefully, we’ll see home games at the arena this season. From a sporting standpoint, I think this is a return to normality. There’s a natural process of a team coming together, and I believe the win gave us a boost of energy and, most importantly, confidence. We need to stay on track, keep practicing the right way, because I think the good practices are what led to the improvement in our performance. We have to stay focused. We’ve had some good games, and we had a strong one against Hapoel Tel Aviv, a very talented team on the level of Barcelona and Olympiacos, so this win can definitely give us confidence."
Marcio Santos, Maccabi center
"We’re facing a double week, and there’s still room for us to improve – both defensively and offensively. I think it’s going to be a good game. Barcelona is always a strong team; it’ll be a battle, as always. We want to win both games. We need to know how to control the tempo of the game. We were trailing and couldn’t execute what we wanted, but we never stopped playing. We kept fighting, defended the right way, and worked hard for the win, and that’s the key to victory."
Jimmy Clark, Maccabi guard
"I feel like we’re entering this EuroLeague double week with positive momentum after two good wins — one of them in the EuroLeague, which was also our first victory in the competition. We’re coming in with good energy, and as long as we stay active and keep building our team chemistry, we’ll be fine. We need to dictate the tempo and establish our team identity, something we already started to see in the previous game."
Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul vs. Dubai Basketball (19:45 CEST)
Sarunas Jasikevicius, Fenerbahce head coach
"Dubai is a very well coached and physical team. They can have all kinds of lineups, playing with traditional lineups, [Filip] Petrusev being at the 5 makes them very mobile. The guards are very big, and have the ability to have a very physical team and we need to respond to that. For us it is extremely important to win the rebounding battle."
Mikael Jantunen, Fenerbahce forward
"It’s a big challenge. We've got to pick up from and improve from the last game, and we know they're a better team than the team we played in pre-season, so of course there are some familiar faces. But I think it starts with our own game and we have to do our own things on a very high level if we want to be able to win. So I think it's a great chance to play in front of our amazing fans and I can't wait to play in front of them again."
Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade vs. Zalgiris Kaunas (20:00 CEST)
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Olympiacos Piraeus vs. Anadolu Efes Istanbul (20:15 CEST)
Georgios Bartzokas, Olympiacos head coach
"Efes is a team that doesn’t allow any form of relaxation. To beat them, we'll have to ‘bleed’. They have very creative guards like [Shane] Larkin and [Jordan] Loyd. [Rodrigue] Beaubois and [PJ] Dozier are also back. Their guards are very dangerous in these kinds of games; they create situations on their own. They’re also excellent in after-timeout plays. Coach Kokoskov has great offensive ideas. To beat them, we need to be tough and hit our key defensive goals. This is our third game in just a few days. Compared to Efes, who had an easier game and earlier in the week, we’re at a disadvantage. But we’re playing at home. We need strong support from our fans because this is an important game for us, especially at a time when we’re dealing with injuries, mainly in the backcourt. It’s crucial that we get through this stretch without any further losses."
Alec Peters, Olympiacos forward
"All thoughts are now on Efes. It’s still early in the season and we’re trying to find our rhythm. Like every team, we have to do the job from the start. Thinking about yesterday’s game (the league derby win against Panathinaikos) would be a mistake going into tomorrow. The focus is fully on what we need to do."
Igor Kokoskov, Efes head coach
"Even with the fact that Olympiacos is missing its some perimeter players, winning the Greek derby against Panathinaikos gives them confidence. Piraeus is a tough place to play. We need to play this game with a high level of focus and intensity. We need to play our game for 40 minutes to win this game. We need to show perseverance, one thing that we were missing in our last two EuroLeague games."
Ercan Osmani, Efes forward
"We’re heading into another double-game week in the EuroLeague with a tough road game against Olympiacos. Unfortunately, we lost our last two EuroLeague games, but our goal is to finish the regular season as high as possible in the standings. To do that, we need to collect as many wins as we can. Olympiacos is a team that we know very well and one of the strongest teams in the league. Games on the road against them are always tough fights. We must be very well focused for 40 minutes and remain calm regardless of the score. I believe that if we stick to our game plan, we can come out of this game with a win."
FC Bayern Munich vs. EA7 Emporio Armani Milan (20:30 CEST)
Gordie Herbert, Bayern head coach
"We have to defend better as a team and play better together than we did against Zalgiris if we want to have a chance against this individual quality.”
Vladimir Lucic, Bayern forward
“We don't have much time to prepare and are in a delicate situation with the new team and the injuries. But that's the reality and we just have to stick together now.”
Ettore Messina, Milan head coach
"Bayern is a team capable of playing good, up-tempo basketball with a great scorer like Andreas Obst who can definitely change the outlook of any game with his shooting. Despite struggling to cope with some injuries, they are still a deep team. As in any EuroLeague road game, intensity, rebounding and shot selection will be the crucial factors for us, especially being limited among the bigs rotation."
Devin Booker, Milan center
"It is a very challenging game for us, especially because we will miss a couple of key guys. As a result, it will be a very tough road game in Munich and intensity, aggressiveness right from the beginning and for the entire game will be absolutely required to win it."
Wednesday, October 15
Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens vs. LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne (20:15 CEST)
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Virtus Segafredo Bologna vs. AS Monaco (20:30 CEST)
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Valencia Basket vs. Hapoel Shlomo Tel Aviv (20:30 CEST)
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Real Madrid vs. Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade (20:45 CEST)
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Paris Basketball vs. Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz (20:45 CEST)
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