Mirotic’s return eclipses the visit to ALBA Berlin

The great star of Barça traveled to the German capital and this Thursday he could have his first minutes of the course

‘Niko’ finished last league with discomfort and has been recovering since June from an Achilles tendon injury

Rarely will the recovery of a player overshadow the previous one of an important match like she did yesterday inclusion of Nikola Mirotic in the squad list for the Euroleague clash this Thursday at 6:30 p.m. on the ALBA Berlin court and also for the league game on Saturday against Monbus Obradoiro.

Although it is not certain that the great Barça star will play his first minutes of the season, His first trip with the team is the best news for a blaugrana basketball that had been pining for the most valued player of the last Euroleague for too long.

After living martyred for weeks due to discomfort in the Achilles tendon of his right leg that did not allow him to make a difference as usual, Mirotic played his last game with Barça on June 19 in the defeat on the track of Madrid that gave the title of the Endesa League to those of Chus Mateo. Despite this borderline situation, the man from Podgorica was the top scorer for Barça in the match with 14 points and also the most valued along with Exum with +17.

The Calvary

Despite the fact that it was notorious that ‘Niko’ had some problem in that final stretch of the season, the hare did not jump until July 22 when the Serbian portal ‘Telesport’ announced that he suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon It was even accompanied by rumors about the possible return of Chris Singleton to the Palau after it was confirmed that he would no longer be there after contributing notably to the conquest of the last two Euroleagues.

That same day the club was forced to issue a medical statement in which he explained that Mirotic “already played the final stretch of the Endesa League with discomfort” and that “he is undergoing a recovery treatment that will last in the coming weeks & rdquor ;. “Since the 2021/22 academic year ended, it has been under the control of the club’s medical services,” the brief note added.

In parallel form, The power forward’s environment confirmed hours before to SPORT that there was no breakbut that there was a risk that the injury would worsen and that in permanent contact with the club the great premise would be not to take risks and that a conservative treatment would be opted for.

In Barcelona

After the most difficult vacation in his recent history with continuous recovery sessions in his native Montenegro, Mirotic returned to Barcelona at the end of August and since then its evolution has been slow but constant.

The outpost of yesterday’s ‘news’ arrived on November 19 when the club announced that its great star was returning to training with the group. Throughout the past week, the Spanish-Montenegrin player has shown himself to be very recovered in all the sessions and did the job without any apparent problems, which, together with his enormous enthusiasm for returning, has precipitated this good news.

In this sense and Regarding the criticism that Saras has received, it must be emphasized that he has not been able to count on his great referencewho recovered his best shooter (Kyle Kuric) last Tuesday, who had to water Cory Higgins for minutes to finally make a difference and that defensive specialist Sergi Martínez is KO.

key player

The long-awaited return of Mirotic is a ‘high’ in every way for Barça, although it will also cause overtime for a Jasikevicius who asks for calm. “We have to be patient with him. Now he’s going to start his own pre-season and, although we’ve missed him a lot and he’s a player we need, we don’t have to go crazy,” he said with very good judgement.

Going back to the above, A good part of the plays in the Lithuanian’s script are designed for the ex-madridista to take advantage of his advantages creating favorable situations for him both in the low post and on the perimeter. In his absence, Saras has had to modify many of these actions since he does not have another player of his characteristics (Oscar da Silva is the one who most resembles him) and now he will have to go back on some and emphasize the ones he had parked. In any case, he will do it cheerfully and with pleasure.

The spirit of Aito

In addition to the hot news of the day, Barça faces a complicated visit to ALBA Berlin this Thursday (6:30 p.m.) directed by the Cantabrian Israel González for the second consecutive season after being the assistant of Aíto García Reneses in the previous four.

So, the free play, the defensive intensity and the continuous exchanges that have consecrated the legendary ex-Barça coach They are still present in a Berlin team that won the first three games in this Euroleague and now accumulates seven straight losses.

In his squad there are three old acquaintances from the Endesa League: the Chadian giant Christ Koumadje (Estudiantes) and the Americans Luke Sikma (La Palma, Burgos, Tenerife and Valencia) and Ben Lammers (Bilbao Basket). The great absence in Berlin will be a player who grew up in the azulgrana academy, the shooter Marcus Eriksson. The Swedish foreigner could not play until 2023 due to the persistent inflammation of a tendon in the sole of his right foot that he had been dragging for months. Without a doubt, a drop in depth.