“It’s embarrassing and embarrassing.” Basketball player “Zenith” Karasev – about the withdrawal of Russian teams from European competition

The winner of the VTB United League in the “Zenith » Sergei Karasev during a basketball gala match as part of the Roscongress, he told about his feelings about the championship, and also commented on the fact that Russian teams will not participate in the Euroleague and the European competitions in the 2022/23 season.

– The emotions aroused by the victory of “Zenith” have already subsided or is everything still rejoicing in your soul?

“Sometimes that feeling still comes. When there is news about it on the Internet or a video appears. These things are always nice. And congratulations always come. From friends, acquaintances and people who hadn’t even followed basketball before, but somehow saw our last series with CSKA. So, in general, it has calmed down, but there are reflections.

– What do you think, with a cool head, thanks to which Zenit managed to get out of the final series with a score of 1-3?

– Because of the character. They didn’t give up. It was hard, first emotionally, because we understood that physically we were more or less on an equal footing. Maybe to some extent our line-up was a bit deeper and the rotation was bigger. But the most important thing is the emotional component. The coach found the right words. And when we won the fifth game, the guys believed 100% in themselves.

– It turns out that CSKA President Andrey Vatutin was partly right when he said that Zenit did well, but he starved us?

– Starvation is not starvation, but we just did our job. In principle, we tried to follow the coach’s instructions in every game. And thanks to the rotation, we had more strength for the last game. However, the top five have averaged 30 minutes per game in all games. For 12 days, it’s very hard.

– What should our basketball do in a situation where clubs are suspended from the Euroleague and European Cups?

“Obviously it’s embarrassing and embarrassing. But the just ended VTB League championship proved that our encounters can be very cool, both individual matches and series. I think next season will be interesting. more, the teams have been added in. I think the clubs and their management will find basketball players to come and play, so everything should be good in terms of entertainment as well, Karasev said.

CSKA, UNICS and Zenit were unable to complete the previous Euroleague season, the clubs were suspended from participation during the tournament, voiding all results. In the next draw, instead of Kazan and St. Petersburg, Valencia and Partizan will play.