Real Madrid made its first official appearance of 2021-22 surviving a close-fought battle against Marc Gasol and Girona. Sergio Rodriguez, who played his first official game with the team, expressed his excitement for the current Madrid squad.
“The team has only trained all together three times. We have to make progress on the finer details, the team looks really promising. We have great physicality, young guys with real talent, and we have to get the best we can out of this group,” Rodriguez said.
The Girona arena presented a full house to witness the premiere of Bàsquet Girona in the ACB, with more than 5,000 fans in the stand. Mario Hezonja was the most outstanding player of the game with a game-high 23 points.
“I’m thrilled to be back playing at Real Madrid, to have started the season by winning the Super Cup. We knew they were really hungry to play, they’ve been outside the ACB for a number of years, they had a dominant player in Marc Gasol. But we dug in and came through the game,” the veteran point guard said.
Real will continue in ACB with a game against Obradoiro Sunday before the EuroLeague tip off on October 6. Madrid has its share of injuries with Adam Hanga, Rudy Fernandez, Carlos Alocen and Nigel Williams-Goss missing the preseason and the start of the 2022-23 campaign.
Real Madrid will visit Panathinaikos for Round 1 of the 2022-23 EuroLeague campaign.
