Pablo Laso spoke to the media before travelling to Russia, where Real Madrid will make their debut against Khimki on the first day of the Euroleague: "This is the start of a competition with different phases but now it is time to focus on the first group which is very demanding. Khimki and Fenerbahçe are both sides that aspire to be the best. Bayern and Red Star are well-established Euroleague sides and so is Strasbourg. They will be very demanding rivals from the outset”.

"Generally speaking we know how difficult the group is, how important it is to get victories as soon as possible in order to seal qualification and, especially, that it will help us to gradually grow as a team, which is the stage we are now at".

Khimki
“It is a small court, where people close down a lot and are closely packed and most importantly, they are a very good side. Inside, they have three very solid players, with Monya, who opens up the court for them, and is very versatile. Outside, they are one of the most talented sides in the Euroleague with Shved, Rice, Dragic, Koponen and Honeycutt. They are current champions of the Eurocup, they play to win everything and they are very dangerous".

“Rice leads the team due to his position. They have become stronger with Dragic, Shved, players that continue to be very versatile on the outside, they are capable of playing pick and roll, shooting three-pointers, penetrating, and then also they are very solid inside with Davis and Augustine, and also with the arrival of Todorovic".

State of the team
“The team are doing well, with everyone training normally apart from Taylor, who is doing work away from the group. I see that they realise that we really need to build up training sessions and work, and they know that at the same time we must compete. The team must keep growing and working to reach their best level".

Rest
“We have had four days of rest and we will gradually have more rest, little by little. We need to get back into the training and match routines, and that has been somewhat complicated up until now with the arrival of international games and the competitions we have had".