Madrid, Feb 11 (EFE) .- The duel that Barça and Unicaja will resolve in the last clash of the Copa del Rey quarterfinals, could well be called that of the black beast and its prey, since the Catalans always beat the greens in the playoffs (9 of 9) and also in this competition in the six times they met.
Everything seems to be on the Barcelona side, which has won the last nine league games and is the leader of the Euroleague, while the Andalusians arrive in the midst of a game crisis and results after closing, with a victory against Fuenlabrada on Sunday, a terrible streak of ten consecutive defeats, six in the league and four in the Eurocup, from which he was eliminated prematurely.
In almost any comparison, Unicaja loses, which nevertheless can remember the 2005 edition in which they also entered the table as eighth and on the last day and ended up being proclaimed champion against Real Madrid in Zaragoza.
Sarunas Jasikevicius, Barça coach, has the loss of Víctor Claver and the doubt of Alex Abrines, with discomfort in the hamstrings, and will surely remind his players that the last two editions played in Madrid, 2011 and 2019, ended with the team lifting The throphy.
Fotis Katsikaris, Unicaja coach, will not be able to count on Dragan Milosavljevic and Gal Mekel, long-term casualties, with the rest of the players in a position to play.
On the only occasion they have met this season, at Martín Carpena on September 24, Barça won 70-79.
Another fact in favor of those of Jasikevicus is that Barça is the second best rebound in the League (36.3 per game), while Unicaja, which has shown excessive fragility in its interior game throughout the season, is the second worst in this section with 31.6 captures.
The list of the Catalans is stellar with Nico Mirotic, Nick Calathes, Brandon Davies, Cory Higgins, Kyle Kuric, Abrines, Adam Hanga … The Andalusian team cannot be thrown on deaf ears with Darío Brizuela, Jaime Fernández, Francis Alonso , Tim Abromaitis, Rubén Guerrero, Adam Waczynski, Alberto Díaz …
But despite everything, the Cup is the Cup. Anything can happen. Forty minutes to reverse forecasts, forty minutes to break with the past, forty minutes to glory.
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