Second-placed Barcelona (16-8) will look to rectify its declining road form with a trip to dangerous Zvezda (10-14).
Ioannis Sfairopoulos, Zvezda: 'Someone can always jump out and deliver you the death blow'
Seasons
3 Mins read
Regular Season
Round 25 of 34
Regular Season
Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet BelgradeCZV
7685
FC BarcelonaBAR
Overview
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The host has already beaten one Spanish team this week, comfortably downing Valencia led by Nemanja Nedovic's exhibition of long-range shooting. Barca, which has lost three straight on the road, will be confident of containing that threat after restricting Virtus's dangerous shooters to just 4 triples in Wednesday's easy home win. Jabari Parker and Luka Mitrovic enjoyed a good tussle when the teams met in November, scoring 20 and 22 points, respectively, in a well-contested game eventually taken 86-81 by the Blaugrana.
Ioannis Sfairopoulos, Zvezda head coach
"We are playing against a quality opponent. We know how dangerous Barcelona are as a team. They have many players who can play at the highest level. That's why we have to be very concentrated to follow our plan to try to create problems for them in both directions. We need to read the game as a team, because they have a lot of quality players, so if we focus on two or three, someone can always jump out and deliver you the death blow."
Roger Grimau, FC Barcelona head coach
"I think playing in this atmosphere is not that positive for the hosts. It gives you a little extra energy when you struggle a bit, especially with this schedule sure, but I dont think it's that bad for the visiting teams. I think Zvezda has players in a great moment. Teodosic can always play a great game, Hanga has the energy. Their outside players have great scoring capabilities. We have to be concentrated. focus on defense and rebounds."
Adam Hanga, Zvezda player
"Another double week, we play against another Spanish team, their style of play is more or less the same. We are playing against a team that is at the top of the EuroLeague table. They are having a great season, although many people doubted them after the change of coach. They are having a great season so far, this will be a very tough challenge."
Nikola Kalinic, FC Barcelona player
"For me it's always great to return to Belgrade. The last time we played there we won, and we showed we can play serious basketball for 40 minutes. We have to start improving on our road games. Zvezda is fighting for the playoffs and the play-in. They defeated Valencia and they will be pumped and motivated. It will be very hard, but I think that if we can keep our cool as we did against Virtus, we will be alright."