Ludovic Fabregas (FC Barcelone)
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Two of Barça’s French players, Dika Mem and Ludovic Fabregas, gave their point of view before the clash against PSG in the semi-finals of the Final Four on Monday.
A few weeks before the World Cup in Egypt, many Blues will set foot on the floor of the Lanxess Arena in Cologne tonight for another very high level competition. They won’t be less than four side Barcelona, two of whom are indisputable executives of the Catalan workforce: the right-back Dika mem and the pivot Ludovic Fabregas. These two players have also given their impressions in the Spanish media before this shock against the PSG.
Mem: “PSG has the weapons to fight us”
Interviewed by the Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo, Dika Mem admitted that the possible absence of his teammate Aron Pálmarsson could hurt them: “It would be a terrible absence, he is currently one of the best players. The performance of the team is not the same without him“. Asked about the level of Parisians, Mem admitted that “this team has the weapons to beat us. People will say she is weakened with the absence of Nikola Karabatic, but anything can pass in one game and they are able to beat us“.
A PSG whose performance has not dropped despite the injury of its leader, as Dika reminds us: “They’ve been playing without him for two months, but since then I think they’ve only lost one game, against Kielce. It’s still PSG, even without Niko, let’s not forget that they have Hansen, Remili, Kristopans, Luka Karabatic, the goalkeepers, etc..”.
If Mem had to highlight three of the main dangers within the Parisian team, he would select “Hansen, Remili and Gérard. I know Vincent and he can play at a huge level, everyone knows Hansen’s ability to score goals, and Remili is also a very dangerous player, both right back and center half.“. Without forgetting to also mention “their pivots playing 7 against 6“, or “Prandi, another top player although less known“.
Finally, Dika is aware of the difficulty of defending on a player like Kristopans (2m15): “With this size, strength and agility, everything is easier for him. We must make sure that it does not happen again the same thing as a year and a half ago, in the last semi-final, when he scored 8 one-on-one goals in the second half.“.
Fabregas: “Steins can be the X factor”
For his part, Ludovic Fabregas spoke on Saturday in the columns of L’Esportiu, Catalan sports daily. The pivot of Banyuls-sur-Mer took the opportunity to deliver his feelings on the arrival of Luc Steins and its adaptation within the Parisian collective: “Luc and Nikola are very different. Niko, we all know him, he weighs a lot in the team, both defensively and in attack, and perhaps his experience will be lacking at PSG. Luc, with his size, can’t help much in defense, but in attack he can bring a lot of speed. He doesn’t have that much experience, but he can be the X factor. The player you don’t expect and who can be decisive“.
Regarding the strengths of his team, Ludovic recognizes that “it’s a pleasure as a pivot to play with center-backs like Entrerríos and Pálmarsson, then Cindric arrived last year“. And more generally, the pivot confirms that the Blaugrana team is cut out to aim for the title: “Having such a large squad qualitatively and quantitatively allows us to turn and rest the players, and to train harder and harder. It’s very good for the way we play. Maintaining such a high speed of play is only possible if you have players on the bench who can do the same as all seven starters. In our team, any player can come out in the starting seven and give maximum performance. To see now if we can end the year with this famous trophy, which is ultimately the most important“.
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