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Ádám Hanga believes his team Real Madrid deserved to claim victory in the Spanish Basketball Championship after beating his former club Barcelona in the fourth round of the final.
Real Madrid, featuring Hungarian basketball star Ádám Hanga, defeated defending champions Barcelona 81-74 at home in the fourth game of the Spanish Basketball Championship final on Sunday, winning the match 3-1 on aggregate.
Hanga, who is also a player of the Hungarian national team, told public media on Monday that the title crowned the season, which had been “very intense and full of experiences” for him. Regarding the Spanish final, Hanga said his team knew that their opponents were one of the best on the continent, adding that it was no coincidence that they had reached the last four of the Euroleague.
“We struggled against them all season, they beat us five times in a row, we couldn’t find a way to overcome them. It lasted until the semi-finals of the Euroleague, where we finally managed to win. In the final match it was crucial that we won the first game away from home and the second one was just out of our hands, even though we dominated almost the whole match. We won the third match easily and after that we were ready to put the icing on the cake, but we knew that is always the hardest part,” he said.
Hanga considers their success well deserved, if only for the fact that they controlled 150 of the 160 minutes of the final and were able to dictate the game. He also stressed that having lost only two games since March says a lot about their spring performance.
Hanga, who won the title with Barcelona last season, expressed his gratitude for the support of the fans of the rival team.
“As a former Barcelona player, it must have been difficult for many Real fans to accept that I signed here, but they still welcomed me with open arms, and this season I was able to show that they had signed me for a reason,” he said.
Hanga said that for him, meeting his former team in the final was a particularly memorable experience, and while he didn’t feel any sense of gratification from the win, he did have the impression that his former club may have made a mistake in letting him go last year.
Last year, the 33-year-old Hanga celebrated his championship title with his former team, Barcelona. Now he has won his second title in Spain, along with three Cup golds.
During this season, Real Madrid, silver medalists in both the Spanish King’s Cup and the Euroleague, collected their 36th league gold in their history.
via MTI
Featured photo: Real Madrid’s Ádám Hanga (right) and Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz’s Wade Baldwin IV during a Euroleague men’s basketball match in Vitoria, Portugal, November 25, 2021. Photo by David Aguilar/EPA/EFE/MTI