The games of Tenerife, which won the Champions League, will continue in the playoffs of the Spanish League. Sasu Salin is also looking forward to the important national matches of the summer.
A happy man answers the phone from Madrid airport. Sasu Salin and the rest of Tenerife’s recent basketball Champions League winning team are on their way home to Sunday’s Golden Festival after finishing in Bilbao.
– The game was pretty late, so we didn’t get out of the hall until midnight. We quickly went to the hotel to eat and headed somewhere to a nightclub for a while. It wasn’t very weird on Sunday night, but it was fun with the gang, Salin tells Sport.
The party was well deserved, as Tenerife made a clear mark in the final Elias Valtosen from the second Spanish team in Manresa represented 98-87. Salin played the button game and recorded 18 points for his team’s best statistic.
– It’s nice that my own game went now, maybe not after a miserable, but a little worse semi-final. The familiar gang was up and running until halfway through. In the third quarter, we got a good gear and that’s where it turned for us. Contrary to what we did this season, we were able to keep the lead until the end, Salin repeated.
Tenerife won the Champions League for the second time in their club history. The last time the championship came was in the first season of the current competition in 2016–17.
– This is the biggest trophy I’ve ever won. Yes this means a lot and I am proud of that, Salin rejoices.
There are two rounds to play in the Spanish league regular season. Tenerife is fifth and has already secured its place in the playoffs. Last season, the club progressed all the way to the semi-finals, where Barcelona was stronger.
– Yes we have opportunities against all teams. With this team it is possible to play for high rankings. I enjoy playing quite a lot right now.
Important national team games ahead
The high stakes games will continue even after the end of the club team season. Finland is leading its World Cup qualifiers and will face Sweden and Croatia in the June-July match-fixing. The European Championships are due in Prague in September.
The hall is already an NBA star Lauri Markkasen with a possible return to Susijeng’s shirt.
– Playing in Spain is great, but of course it’s always nice to play national team games. Now we have important games coming, and if we could get Laurink involved. Then there would be a whole poppoo in the pile, yes it would be cool, Salin says.
– Yes, we always put messages, but we haven’t talked about the future national team window. Isn’t Lauri’s people taking care of getting us to play? After all, it’s always more challenging for those NBA men, Salin says.
Salin met one of the national team men on the floor in the Champions League final. Elias Valtonen’s time to win the big stand was not yet, but Salin believes that the day will come.
– I told him that luckily I let my parent win this time. We had a little Finnish talk about it, that there is good weather and all that, Salin laughs.