Laboral Kutxa Baskonia will face one of the toughest squads of the league in the season opener
In a unique setting, the Escoriaza-Esquivel Palace in Vitoria-Gasteiz, the draw of the Endesa Supercup has taken place today at noon. The competition will take its place the last weekend of September in Buesa Arena.
The event was hosted by journalist Michael Ascenzo and brought together different authorities and representatives of participant teams. The semi-final matches for the first tournament of the season have been decided.
Javier Maroto, Mayor of Vitoria-Gasteiz, Javier de Andrés, General Deputy of Araba, Juan Ignacio Motiloa, Deputy Minister of Industry and Energy of the Basque Government and Francisco Roca, Executive Chairman of the ACB have accompanied Joan Creus, FC Barcelona, Josean Querejeta, President of Saski Baskonia, Emiliano Rodriguez, representing Real Madrid and Victor Luengo from Valencia Basket.
After the introduction of the event, the speeches started and in all moments they have been linked with the award Vitoria owns during this year and made various nods to the “Gastronomic Capital” title. First of all, Javier Maroto, Mayor of Vitoria-Gasteiz pointed out the strengths of the city and noted that “sports and gastronomy are two of the essences of Vitoria; we can feel proud of hosting this great this event”. Francisco Roca, Executive Chairman of the ACB, added that “the event on 26 and 27 September held in Buesa Arena have all the ingredients. FC Barcelona, Baskonia, Real Madrid and Valencia Basket. It will be a great tournament”.
Javier de Andrés, General Deputy of Araba, said that “this land has become land of basketball. It is synonymous with basketball, breathes basketball”. He also thanked “all institutions for joining together in order to organize and promote such event as the Endesa Supercup”. Finally, Juan Ignacio Motiloa, Deputy Minister of Industry and Energy of the Basque Government, explained that “Vitoria-Gasteiz is an open city and has enough experience to organize events of this level. People will come with high expectations as Vitoria is a city where you eat well and live well”.
After that, the local chefs Patxi Eceiza and Iñaki Moya were in charge of the draw that decided the result of the semifinal pairings. The first semi-final will be between Real Madrid and Valencia Basket, the second one will have FC Barcelona and Laboral Kutxa Baskonia as protagonists.
The rival, FC Barcelona
Once again we face each other in the repetition of last year´s semifinals. The team coached by Xavi Pascual is the current champion of the Endesa League. The former Baskonia player Tibor Pleiss will come back to Buesa Arena and it´ll be the first time fans can see the German with the FC Barcelona jersey.
The Catalan squad will be for another year one of the strongest teams in the fight for all the titles. This year they have added great players such as Doellman, Satoransky, Hakanson, Sulejmanovic and others.
Evaluations
Josean Querejeta praised the draw and indicated that it´s “the same as last year. It is a game that comes a little early for all, especially for us because we lack half of the team and we play in fifteen days. It is a big tournament and it must serve us to prepare for the rest of the season, I hope the outcome turns different from last year”. The Saski Baskonia President added that “competing with the greatest is more and more complicated because their budget is too large, we have a different proposal for this year which gives us a physical edge, I like the team and I think we will compete”.
Joan Creus was in charge of representing FC Barcelona in Vitoria this morning. He said “it´s a repetition of last year’s game, same setting but different players. It´s a competition that comes very soon but we can get a feel of how the season is going to be. We have made great additions to our roster and we hope to perform well”. Creus also added that “Baskonia is different this year, they have made a great combination of veteran and young players and they´ll be a tremendously competitive team”.
These two games will be played on Friday September 26 and the final will be disputed on Saturday 27, right after the 3 Point Competition sponsored by Platano de Canarias.
