The aria of Chacho in the fable of Chus Mateo

Right after Kevin Punter missed that triple to tie the game again with 24 seconds remaining, seeing in the replay the image of Chus Mateo watching helplessly at the action of the American forward, this chronicler took to remembering that delicious talk from 5 years ago years with the guy who comes out of this playoffs for the history of the Euroleague the most reinforced. In that dimly lit school gym, and after talking about the divine and the human, it occurred to us to end as that TV program that recounts the lives of the people of Madrid around the world usually does..

Will you ever return to the bench as first coach, Chus?

Right now I don't even think about it, Pablo. I sacrificed too many things to try and I think it has not been worth it,

As in one of those wonderful fables that Joan Cerdá wrote in Nuevo Basket magazine, the bench clearly had other plans for the disbelieving Mateo. And if 5 basketball games ended up giving meaning to a vocation? What Chus has experienced these two weeks has been a lifetime for any coach. After a very improvable approach at the beginning of the tie, he gave two tactical baths to a living myth in his own house in Belgrade. Almost buried before the goal due to the absolute lack of respect of the referees towards his figure in this decisive match, he made the best decision of his career; getting on the chariot of their veteran horses (Chacho, Rudy, Llull…) as a last resort, in one of the last services of these geniuses to our basketball, one that will be among the most remembered, and look what they have had for remember.

The Chacho plays

This work of art in the form of a 5-act playoff, was very much in favor of a final worthy of memory. And the connoisseurs already warned us that the best Operas never end until the fat woman sings. El Chacho, with that hermit's beard that he has worn for years, with that 'flow' that he has always had and that captivated the Americans in his early twenties, after a season that was probably very frustrating for his initial and veteran expectations, in front of all his stalwarts , from the followers of Real Madrid and European basketball, probably recited the best aria of his sports career, due to the difficulty, the significance, the beauty.

With a 15-point disadvantage, Mateo surpassed by the rival approach and by two gym strongmen dressed in orange with a whistle, the disbelieving conductor had to put his present and clearly his future in the hands of basketball according to Chacho. That's how far he had come with the zones, with the tactical changes, with very signature decisions such as Ndiaye's as the starter in the decisive clash. “Take Sergio, I don't know anymore. Do what you can”. Sergio clearly sensed Rudy's support to change the dynamics with his natural intelligence on the floor: he started Hezonja, and Mario, without that melancholy that sometimes invades him, goes where very few can go in European basketball. And finally, he asked Llull to play the bugle to raise the pulsations of all those present at the precise moment.. One last attempt by the strongmen to extend the event (professional arbitration does not whistle matches, now it manages shows) put the equalizer in the hands of Punter, and left us that image of Mateo, the ideal cover photo for the biography of a incredulous coach, who will have to be asked again if all this has been worth it.

Meanwhile, 'la Gorda' Rodríguez, in the background, exhausted, was trying to make journalists understand that playing basketball means for him a hymn to a happy childhood, and is often a simple child's game.