Xavi Pascual: "It was a great atmosphere"
Zenit head coach Xavi Pascual summed up the second game of the VTB United League finals. The home match against CSKA ended with a victory for the blue-whites with a score of 86:70.
— First of all, big thanks to all the fans that they were over here with this sold-out game. It was a great atmosphere and a great game for us. I think one game that, more or less, we were dominating from the beginning until the end. But always with a small advantage and always the game was dangerous. But we could keep the advantage that we had in the first half and finally to achieve this important win.
— The previous game gave a lot of food for thought. Today, you managed to correct some mistakes. What did you focus on first and foremost — not only tactically, but perhaps also psychologically?
— You know, we didn't lose at home from 11th of January. So for sure for us was one difficult moment to lose here at home in the first game of the final. But we recovered very well psychologically and also very well physically. Also I think tactically we were better also at the first game. And the most important, we opened the game better. In the first match we opened the game very bad and after that we were playing under the score of the game. I think we have to be happy for today and we have to go to Moscow to win one game over there.
— You mentioned that Zenit's lead throughout most of the game was minimal. How much did that help in maintaining focus until the very last minute?
— Yes, I think for all the teams in games like finals, always when you are over the score, you feel more comfortable, but the game was not clear at all. We know the quality of CSKA in two actions they can be back on the game. It was one moment that we were in six points. Several offence, defense, both teams we didn't score. I remember that I took time out and I cancelled time out 2-3 times, but finally we score and we were to 10 points again and it was one important moment of the game.
— Could you please tell us about Sergey Karasev’s injury? Will he be back for the third game of the final?
— I can’t tell you. He needs time. But I don’t know how long it is going to be. It’s one injure that we'll see. It depends on the evolution every day, so we need to wait. I cannot tell you. I cannot tell you because I don't know, not because I don't want to say.
