Check out what the coaches and players are saying ahead of Round 10 of the 2025-26 EuroLeague season
Pregame quotes, Round 10: 'I want to show I've still got it at the age of 35'
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Tuesday, November 11
Dubai Basketball vs. Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade (17:00 CET)
Jurica Golemac, Dubai head coach
"They are playing very good basketball. They are playing the best in the EuroLeague at this moment: very aggressive, very energized, very intense. We are going to need to be very good in the shot selection to prevent their easy baskets, to prevent their offensive transition. We need to run back. Everybody needs to be extra focused and extra, extra supportive to each other. The second thing that is very important is that they are one of the best teams in second-chance points. We are going to need to help each other with rebounds, to be able to rebound and to try to run. At home, our fans always give us the energy to get a couple of easy baskets, to provide us with confidence and momentum."
Aleksa Avramovic, Dubai guard
"We play against a very good team, experienced team, playing with big physicality. They had a strike of seven games, they changed the coach, that coach gave them new energy and we know how to prepare for this game. We know that it will be very challenging to play against such a physical team, but of course we have our quality and we know what we need to do to beat them. Basketball is a game of details and in many of our road games, we had the opportunity to win a game and the little details decided it. One possession, one box out, one running back in the pass break and such little things are big if you want the game to finish in your favor, so we need to be focused all 40 minutes."
Filip Petrusev, Dubai forward
"We have to just fight for 40 minutes. They are maybe the best team right now in terms of their form, so we just need to be ready for the fight for 40 minutes and be really physical because they do everything. They go for rebounds and play hard defense, so we have to do the same and just respond with our physicality and with our talent, try to fight for our chance to win. All of their players, they go for offensive rebounds. All their players, they try to be physical and play hard defense, so I think it will be both and if we can keep all these things under control, get the rebounds and run and have as many possessions as them, I think at the end, with our talent, we can hope to get the win."
Sasa Obradovic, Crvena Zvezda head coach
"We used this day here to prepare a little bit, as much as possible tactically. Everyone is only aware of the strength of the opponent and the game, which we need to win. Every game on the side means a lot. Many teams will have problems here, especially when some players recover, like Avramović, who will play against us. As for us, we want to continue our winning streak. Our focus should just be on the game. It is a great thing that we have the support of the fans everywhere, it just proves the greatness of the club."
Donatas Motiejunas, Crvena Zvezda center
"Their biggest quality is that they have a lot of quality players, they are very dangerous, every player can score over 20 points. It is a part of the season especially with trips, as is in this case with Dubai which was six hours long flight which is the longest of the season. When it comes to such trips, we must have a wide roster, where the coach will have at his disposal to change players. The coach is responsible for who will play and who will be on the bench for most of the game."
Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul vs Maccabi Rapyd Tel Aviv (20:00 CET)
Sarunas Jasikevicius, Fenerbahce head coach
"Maccabi has incredible potential offensively. They are one of the top teams scoring the ball. Very clear idea of the play where guards play a huge role and the bigs are always moving and taking the positions for the rebounds, so a very difficult team to stop, and probably we need to focus on ourselves."
Metecan Birsen, Fenerbahce forward
"We have two very important games ahead of us. We’ll step on the court to build a winning habit and keep our rhythm going. We’ll face one of the best teams in the EuroLeague in terms of collective play. We need to stay focused on our own game and be very careful on the rebounds."
Oded Kattash, Maccabi head coach
"It’s another double week again, I feel like I’ve only been in Israel for a day and a half and I’m already back here. It’s an intense week, but that’s part of the challenge. You can already see the national team break on the horizon, and we’ll try to come out of this week with at least one win. The last word hasn’t been said yet. We’ll have to go over the video again tomorrow and refocus. I know there’s been a lot of talk lately about us losing leads, but people need to remember it’s not easy to build a lead against teams like these. It’s disappointing, but hopefully we’ll find ourselves in the same situation again against Fener and later against Baskonia, and then we’ll learn the lesson. It’s not simple; Fener isn’t in their best stretch either. They have many tools that can hurt us. We need to learn from our mistakes and play a full game in terms of energy."
Jimmy Clark, Maccabi guard
"It’s going to be a good challenge for us as a team. We need to stay focused on defense and let the offense flow. As long as we stick to the game plan and stay together, we can beat any team on any given night. We want to play with pride and bring that energy into every game. If we can do that and play with intensity, we’ll win."
Marcio Santos, Maccabi center
"We’re going into a double week and want to win every game. We’ll give our best and our maximum effort — play defense, do everything possible to win. The key is to be the more energetic team, defend better, attack better, and do everything we can. It’s a new team — we’re learning about each other, learning how to defend, how to set the right screens at the right moment. I think we’ve really improved over the past two months. It’s an ongoing process."
Hapoel IBI Tel Aviv vs. Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz (20:05 CET)
Dimitris Itoudis, Hapoel head coach
"We’re getting back on track in this double week against two very demanding opponents. First, Baskonia. They have built a completely new team - with size, athleticism, experience, and talent – and they’re coming into this game after three straight wins. We’re looking forward to this challenge."
Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade vs. AS Monaco (20:30 CET)
Zeljko Obradovic, Partizan head coach
"We’re facing Monaco, a very strong and experienced team. They’ve kept the same core group for several years, while adding some high-quality players to their roster. Their biggest strength lies in their perimeter game, and for us, the key will be to limit their playmakers and creators. We need to bring the same defensive intensity we showed for most of the game in Piraeus. Once again, we’re up against a team with great offensive power, but one that also has players capable of defending at the highest level."
Sterling Brown, Partizan guard
"I expect it to be a good game, a hard fight, like I always say. We prepared pretty well this week. They’re coming off a tough win in their last game, so we feel like we need to be even more locked in. The guys are learning the plays, the new ones are picking them up, and it should be a good game for us, one that’s going to get us on a good track."
Virtus Bologna vs. Anadolu Efes Istanbul (20:30 CET)
Dusko Ivanovic, Virtus head coach
"Efes is one of the best teams in the entire competition because they have so many players who are very good at handling one-on-one situations in isolation. They also defend well, have excellent shooters, as well as players in the 4 and 5 positions who know how to open up the court. Like every EuroLeague game, it will be a tough game, but I think that in this game we will have to focus above all on ourselves and try to play to the best of our ability."
Daniel Hackett, Virtus guard
"Tomorrow we face a very experienced and physical team. We will have to be good and careful in managing one-on-one situations, especially under the basket where we struggled a bit in the last game. In general, we know that their forwards are very talented, so each of us will have to roll up our sleeves and work well as a team to contain their offensive talent."
Igor Kokoskov, Efes head coach
"We’re facing a team that plays with high energy and great intensity. They compete on every possession and they have players who bring a lot of effort into the game. We have to match that energy. Our game plan will be to bring our best game. We have to match their energy which is the number one factor and their physicality. They are playing well at home. They are completely a different team at home and away. So I think we're gonna compete, actually we always compete. One thing that we learned for the last couple of games is that we have to play together and we have to play smart."
Kai Jones, Efes center
"I’m looking forward to executing our game plan in tomorrow’s game. As a group the coaches have shown us what we need to do. Today in practice I saw that we are eager to play hard, smart and together. Once we translate the habits that we are establishing in practice and film to the game, we will reach our full potential as a team."
Valencia Basket vs Real Madrid (20:30 CET)
Sergio Scariolo, Real Madrid head coach
"It's a very demanding doubleheader. Of course, playing in Valencia is one of the toughest tasks in the EuroLeague right now. At this stage of the season, they are always one of the best teams in Europe, and I think this year they have even more depth, more talent, more quality, more experience, and they are a very well-organized team that plays with a lot of energy and at a very high pace."
Edy Tavares, Real Madrid center
"We have to stick together and learn to suffer through the toughest moments of the game. We know it's going to be very difficult against Valencia as they're one of the teams to beat this year. We have to be prepared and do everything right if we want to win the game."
Paris Basketball vs. Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens (21:00 CET)
Ergin Ataman, Panathinaikos head coach
"Paris plays a lot of running game. Actually, they play like last year, with Hifi and Robinson attacking in the first 10 seconds [of the shot clock]. They play a lot of fast breaks, they take shots with Herrera. They are a really athletic team. For us, fast-break defense will be very important, and offensively to show our quality. Just now, we came from the practice and [Faried] had the practice with us. He's a very experienced player. He gave very good things in his first practice. He's very energetic, so he has confidence. He's a type of player that we're missing, because without a real center it's very difficult to play basketball. For sure, we will try to use him for 15-20 minutes. In the other minutes, we will use Mitoglou and Kouzeloglou. There is some good news from Holmes, who in 1-2 weeks could come back. The same with Yurtseven. We will evaluate the situations with Holmes and Yurtseven before looking at other players."
Kenneth Faried, Panathiniakos center
"I'm always ready to play. I love basketball. I try to stay in the best shape possible all the time, year round. When my number's called, if it's called, I'm ready. I was watching the EuroLeague. I was watching teams do their things, and I was watching Pana because of Juancho and Marius, my two guys over here. I wanted to see how good they were going to be this year because I thought Lessort was going to be back, but I saw a lot of injuries and stuff happening to them and I'm like, 'Man, that's tough.' But for me, it's an opportunity. This is what I signed up for. I didn't know how many minutes Coach was going to give me, but I knew I just wanted to come out here and play and be able to showcase that I can play at this level of the EuroLeague and that I've still got it at the age of 35, going on 36."
Wednesday, November 12
Olympiacos Piraeus vs. Zalgiris Kaunas (20:15 CET)
Georgios Bartzokas, Olympiacos head coach
"It’s reflected in the standings what they really are. First of all, they are a team with the best defense in the league, allowing 76 points per game if I’m not mistaken. They play with great intensity and energy on defense, they foul, and they play tough. They have clearly defined roles and the best plus-minus in the EuroLeague. They’ve achieved big wins, and that has to do with the way they play. They have good chemistry and deserve congratulations. In general, they’re a very hard-to-beat team, and if you’re not ready to play a high-effort game, you’ll pay for it. You should definitely expect a game with a lot of contact and physicality. That’s how the game will be, because that’s how Zalgiris forces you to play. If you don’t match that, inevitably you’ll have problems."
Tyler Dorsey, Olympiacos guard
"They’re playing very well so far; they’re a dangerous team. We have to be ready for a very tough battle and a high-level game. We need to be prepared both mentally and physically and bring the win home. It’s a big game, and we need to get the victory to start the double week on the right foot."
FC Bayern Munich vs. FC Barcelona (20:30 CET)
Gordon Herbert, Bayern head coach
"Barcelona has a very talented team. As in recent games, we need a complete team performance on both sides of the court. Having the right presence in the zone will play a key role."
Johannes Voigtmann, Bayern forward
"Barcelona has a great roster, even if the season hasn't gone perfectly for them so far. After the change of their coach, they will be particularly motivated and they have the starting five that scores the most points. Specially in a home game, it will be important for us to bring a lot of energy and defend well so that we can play fast. With our fans behind us, we want to get the next win."
Oscar Orellana, Barcelona interim head coach
"We have talked and what we asked is to focus on winning the game against Bayern Munich tomorrow. This is what we asked the team, not to think about anything else but preparing the game really well yesterday and today to beat Bayern. In order to do that, it is important that everyone is at their maximum level and that everyone takes a step forwards as players, asking to take responsibilities as individual players and as a team, and our commitment to the club. We have to think on beating Bayern in Munich without thinking about anything else. We haven't talked again about what happened and everyone knows very well what we have to do, which is preparing the next game. On Monday, already 90% of the focus was on preparing the game against Bayern. I see the team with good mentality. When there is a coaching change, everybody reacts one way or another. Since the moment I saw them yesterday, I see the team looking forward to moving forward. We spoke to the captains and they will help us deliver the message inside the locker room."
Tomas Satoransky, Barcelona guard
"Obviously, we know we are facing is a very difficult situation. The players have already talked about it inside the locker room and have emphasized that being together is the best way to get through these tough times. The season doesn't stop and the competitions don't stop, and for us, in this situation, the most important thing is to focus on beating Bayern Munich. We have a very important chat inside the locker room. Everyone has to reflect on what he is doing wrong and which extra effort we can do, each of us, to help the team win. We have to think on playing better and winning games. We all have to do something extra. Bayern is a very well-coached team that runs the fast-break really well. I think they are the best team in the EuroLeague when it comes to fast-break. We have to come out with energy and I hope we have it after what happened. We have to control the rebounds and stop their fast breaks. They are a smart team which by running the floor, they get energy and confidence."
EA7 Emporio Armani Milan vs. LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne (20:30 CET)
Ettore Messina, Milan head coach
"It is a very important game for us. All games are important but now we want to carry over the last few outings and keep improving. ASVEL paid a price to the injuries, as happened to many more teams, but they have maintained a high level of athleticism and organization, especially at the defensive end of the floor with their 3-2 match-up zone. We need to pay attention to the little details, especially rebounds and ball movement, in order to get the win."