The reasons for the failure of Chus Mateo's Real Madrid in his first big exam

The first big exam of his career as head coach,

failed it.

Although worse than the bad note were the feelings of a team that came to the tournament from the top of the ACB and the Euroleague.

In the corridors of the Olímpic, the faces were very long in the Real Madrid expedition, which, for the first time in a decade, will not be in the Cup final. "The heart and the head count a lot in this game, and they have had a little more soul. They understood better than us that this was a final", the white coach was right to say, who leaves Badalona with a devastating baggage: he has lost six of the eight quarters played.

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Copa del Rey.

The Unicaja of miracles kicks out a sad Real Madrid and makes history

• Drafting: LUCAS SÁEZ-BRAVO (Special envoy) Badalona

The Unicaja of miracles kicks out a sad Real Madrid and makes history

It contrasted green euphoria with white concern.

left the Olímpic with a swollen and bleeding eye.

And everyone was thinking about "intensity" as a paradigm of what happened a while before.

But how is this difference to be explained?

"I couldn't tell you, I'd like to understand why. I hope we learn from this," pronounced

, who was the helm of Real Madrid in moments of truth, such as against Valencia in the quarterfinals, without the confidence of Chus Mateo or in

nor in

.

That, the paralysis in the offensive game of Real Madrid, was, beyond the difference in energy -"the split balls or the rebounds, an essential part of our good game, they have punished us there", admitted Mateo-, one of the reasons why this failure in the Cup may be more than a simple anecdote in a team that only a few months ago ended

, one of the most successful in its history.

Rudy and Llull

And in the ability to win games in the abyss, nobody like

.

That is why Chus Mateo remembered both of them.

The first, injured in the quarterfinals, and the second, back, could barely spend a few seconds against Unicaja.

"Rudy has reached the Cup very just. We wanted to have him close to us. He could have played, but the game at half-time was even and he had not entered. And with his injury it is very risky to put him in if he is cold. We thought we could have options without him after the break... He would have helped us, for sure, in the same way as Llull. We've missed them, for sure", acknowledged the white coach, who has lost two of the three cup games he has led as head coach .

Alejandro GarciaEFE

In addition to the injuries, the

and the fatality in the outcome against Unicaja, where

could not be due to a blow and Tavares himself had to be absent due to another, Real Madrid also made inexcusable mistakes, which had been coming since Thursday against Valencia, when he was saved after the layup missed by

.

In two games, he missed as many as 40 three-pointers (8 of 48) and 22 free throws.

He conceded 178 points, lost 24 balls... Of his stars, only Deck and the African center were up to the task.

Too many absent, although, with one of the most complete and threatening squads that Real Madrid is reminded of, the great one pointed out is Chus Mateo.

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• Sergio Llull

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