Valencia Basket-Maccabi Tel Aviv: an armored match that generates doubts in the players
Playing basketball in an armored pavilion, with access under exhaustive control and under a “high risk” nickname that has raised doubts in the players themselves. The Euroleague made the decision to move the match between Valencia Basket and Maccabi Tel Aviv, which should have been held in the Israeli capital, to the San Luis Fountain pavilion and the Ministry of the Interior has implemented a maximum security device in the surroundings of the sports venue and the strategic infrastructure of the city. Although the design of the operation, which shrouds the movement of the Israeli team in secrecy, has been underway for several days, the murder of two Swedish fans in Brussels before the match between the Belgian and Swedish national teams has caused all measures to be reinforced.
The duel has been declared “high risk” by the Anti-Violence Commission and more than 700 agents will ensure access and security inside in a “global arrangement” of the State security forces and bodies and the National Police, according to assured the Government delegate in the Valencian Community, Pilar Bernabé.
The security perimeter will be increased as well as the checks on fans attending the game, so the club and the Delegation have called for “patience” and ask that they arrive at the pavilion earlier.. What has not been considered is the suspension of the duel. “We know that there are other organizations that have suspended matches in which Israeli teams were playing, but in this case it is up to the organizer, which is the Euroleague,” he said.. Valencia Basket confirmed to EL MUNDO that this option has not been put on the table.
Maccabi will arrive in Valencia from Cyprus surrounded by reinforced security measures, but those provided by the National Police will be added to those provided by the club.. In fact. The municipal facilities attached to the pavilion (an indoor pool and weight rooms) will remain closed to the public throughout Wednesday and Thursday morning as well..
Everything that will surround the duel has generated doubts in the players of the Taronja squad, who have turned to the club to find out how it will affect them.. According to sources consulted by EL MUNDO, the main doubt was knowing what the “high risk” declaration meant and whether there was a risk, something that they have clarified that it is a security formalism, that it is not due to the war conflict and that it is He also usually decrees when visiting, for example, conflicting hobbies.. “Some had more doubts, but after speaking people understood the situation. We have to do our thing,” said Víctor Claver, captain of Valencia Basket, who acknowledged his concern about the personal situation that Maccabi players are going through, such as his former teammates James Webb III and Jasiel Rivero, with whom he has been in contact.
The main relief for Valencia Basket is that the Euroleague has accepted the transfer of the match, since in 2003 and after attacks in Tel Aviv, it forced the team to travel to Israel and, when it refused, it was considered defeated.
Villarreal, pending
The conflict also affects Villarreal, which must host Maccabi Haifa in the Conference League at La Cerámica on October 26. However, the Israeli club has formally requested UEFA to postpone the duel.. “This is the least that the European football community can do for us in these difficult times, when our country is under a war in which our best sons are on the front,” argued in a statement the general director of the Israeli club, Itzik Ovadia.