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Euroleague champions
Most people thought they were the best team in Europe. Now, they have the title to prove it: the Euroleague. We are, of course, talking about FC Barcelona. They have just won the Final Four in Paris after comfortably beating Greece’s Olympiacos 86-68 in the final. Barça had earlier beaten CSKA Moscow by ten points (64-54) in the semi-final. Barça won the title by playing a game that was brilliant, fast, defensively solid, and efficient in terms of attack. All this was after having displayed their superiority during the entire season, winning 20 of their 22 Euroleague matches. Yesterday, the team had an emotional and great celebration of their win with the fans at the Palau Blau-Grana. After winning the Euroleague (the most important club title in Europe) Barça hope to win the Spanish League, which they are leading at the moment. If they do so (something that is certainly possible for this truly exceptional team), they will have won all this season’s titles.
Their second Euroleague title
+ Roger Grimau lifts the Euroleague trophy.
Since 1988, the Final Four includes the best four teams in Europe, which fight it out for the Euroleague title. Before the 2010 final, Barça had played in nine Final Fours: 1989, 1990, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2006 and 2009. Surprisingly, they had only won once, in 2003, when they beat Benetton Treviso (76-65) at the Palau Blau-Grana. That team included Joan Carles Navarro, who is one of the best basketball players in Europe.
Success for Navarro, Ricky and the whole team
Known as ‘La Bomba’, Navarro returned to Barça in 2008, after a season in the NBA in the US, which is considered as the best league in the world. Navarro is the team’s main player, together with Ricky Rubio, an exceptional basketball player aged just 19, who came from Joventut de Badalona this year. However, although they are excellent, the success of Barça cannot be attributed only to them, but to the whole team, a team that expertly combines talent, effort, quality and commitment.
Xavi Pascual, the Guardiola of basketball
A significant part of Barça’s success is down to the coach, Xavi Pascual, who was born in Gavà (Baix Llobregat) in 1972. Pascual became first team coach in February 2008 and, since then, has won six titles, including the League, the Cup and the Euroleague. He has been compared to the football team’s manager, Josep Guardiola, who last year won all the competitions the team played in. Both of them were trained at Barça and are known to be shrewd and hard-working; they favour a spectacular style of play.
