• Supercup. Madrid always eclipses the stellar project of Barcelona
  • Opinion: The appetizer tasted good, by Vicente Salaner

The guy was bumping into his chest , seeking continuous contact to make him notice that he was there, forcing him to quickly release the ball. That if it came to him, because sometimes he turned his back on the action and faced him , making him feel that among more than 12,000 people he only had eyes for him. Nikola Mirotic , called to be the star of the great Barça project, could only score one basket in the last quarter. And it was on the only play that Gabriel Deck did not defend him. Beyond the MVP Facundo Campazzo or the final stampede of Sergio Llull , one of the keys to the victory of Real Madrid in the Endesa Super Cup was the Argentine.

Deck's entry into the game transformed a faltering start of Real Madrid into a break review. In the first 16 minutes he spent on the track, the Whites scored 19 points for Barça , who lost contact with Mirotic. The Catalans always found the Argentine between the ball and his star, who many times he received (when he did) had to quickly release the ball due to lack of air. Others, forced the action. Mirotic only scored twice with Deck on top. One to the post and another in which he managed to leave it in a blockade .

The couple shared the last ten minutes on track and in all attacks except one (the only one who finished in the basket) Deck took care of Mirotic. The balance: two failed shots and a foul in attack to remove the arm to try to get rid of. In the rest, with the title at stake, Deck left the Barça star in an anonymous factor.

But Deck was also noted in attack. He is very intelligent without a ball and usually takes advantage of the fact that he is far from the focus to do damage through the back door, especially in the back line or attacking the offensive rebound (three against Barça). But in the final of the Super Cup he also showed that other face that was seen more with Argentina, aggressive with the ball, throwing it to the ground to also make Mirotic work in defense. After a first year of adaptation and a very good World Cup, especially the final against Spain, Gabriel Deck faces his second season at Real Madrid as the most called player to grow .

THE NICKNAME

The nickname was given to him by a pension partner in which he and his brother lived when they left to play Quimsa . His family was very humble, with 13 years already had to help his father in the field , and the club offered them shelter and food, so the opportunity was twofold: to earn a future and save his parents two plates of food.

They started calling him 'Turtle' because one night they were chatting in the room and he just took his head out from under the blankets to 'spy' on his teammates . "You look like a turtle." It does not define you at all inside the track, but outside it. And 'Tortuga', 'Tortu', stayed. On his left leg he wears a tattoo of Donatello , a character of the Ninja Turtles.

In the first final of the course, the 'Tortu' shook his head, but Pablo Laso demands more from him . "He was already an important player last year. It is normal that in the first year it would cost him to adapt, but he worked very well and now we will demand more. Today he has done a very good job, but I am convinced that he can give us more and can be a very unbalanced player. " It is 'the year of the Turtle'.

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