Xavi Pascual to begin season with Dubai Basketball against Real Madrid — The National
In Dubai, UAE, basketball club Dubai Basketball will begin its second EuroLeague season on September 24 with a match against Real Madrid. It will be a rematch between the teams five days after the EuroLeague Super Cup semifinal, in which Real won 98:95 in overtime.
The team will be led in the new season by 54-year-old Spanish coach Xavi Pascual, who has signed a contract with Dubai Basketball until 2029. According to The National, the specialist said he aims to continue developing the club project and take the next step in the tournament.
The new coach’s experience
Pascual worked with Barcelona for eight years during his first spell at the club. With the team, he won 19 trophies, including four Spanish championships and the 2010 EuroLeague, and was also named EuroLeague Coach of the Year that season. The Spaniard then became Greek champion twice with Panathinaikos in 2017 and 2018, and won the VTB United League with St. Petersburg’s Zenit in 2022.
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Last season, Dubai Basketball made its EuroLeague debut and finished 11th, one place short of the play-in zone. At the same time, the team became Adriatic League champion. Ahead of the new campaign, the roster was strengthened, including by Tornike Shengelia, who moved from Barcelona along with Pascual. Long-serving assistant coach Iñigo Sorsano also relocated to the UAE.
Playing pace and roster depth
In the Super Cup match against Real, the Dubai team led by as many as 16 points, but the Madrid side took the game into overtime and secured the win. Pascual linked the defeat to several unsuccessful stretches and stressed that concentration cannot be lost in matches against Real.
The coach plans to combine tactical organization and defensive discipline with a high pace in transition phases. Guard McKinley Wright IV noted that roster depth is important because the team is competing in the EuroLeague and the Adriatic League. After the game against Real, Dubai Basketball will begin defending its Adriatic League title on Sunday against Vienna, and next Tuesday will host Barcelona in the second round of the EuroLeague.
