FCBARCELONA.CAT

03.05.2010 16:11

Paris owes us

Llorenç Tarrés

Barca have played twice before in Final 4 of the Euroleague in Paris and neither ended particularly well. In 1991 they came up against the Jugoplastika team and their 1996 participation will be remembered for the illegal block by Vrankovic on Montoya

Two of Barca’s ten appearances in a European Final Four so far have been in Paris, a city that has some bittersweet memories for the club, with the Champions League win by the football team and the two defeats in the basketball Final Four.

Jugoplastika

The first disappointment in Paris came in 1191 when the great Jugoplastika Split outfit, playing under the name Pop 84, blocked the way for Epi, Solozábal, Norris and Jiménez, whose brilliant team won everything but the Euroleague as the Croats – with Kukoc, Perasovic, Savic – who scored a record 27 points- Radja and company in their pomp -won a narrow 72-65 final.

The most famous (illegal) block in history

Five years later, Barca went down to a scandalous decision when they met Panathinaikos in the final, again in the French capital. Barca had defeated Real Madrid in the semis and the Greeks had seen off CSK.

Panathinaikos looked set for the title before Barca staged a heroic comeback to leave the scores at 67-66 in favour of the Greeks with just a few seconds to go. Montero won a loose ball and went for the winning points, but his effort was blocked illegally by the centre. The referees didn’t see it that way and the game and the title went to Panathinaikos, though FIBA later admitted the error and in a letter preserved in the Barca museum, claimed Barca were the “moral champions”.

It’s been 14 years since that bitter memory, but Paris owes the team, and Xavi Pascual’s men know that as they go into this weekend’s Final Four.