Behind the Italian Dinko Meneghin (seven titles), the Hispano -American Clifford Luyk (six), the Italian Aldo Ossola (five) and the Greek Fraiskos Alvertis (five), Sarunas Jasikevicius is tied with another ten players with four continental titles As a player and is next to the Sloukas Kostas Sloukas the only one with successes in three different clubs.
Saras raised the title with Barça de Pesic in 2003he repeated the next two years with the MacCabi Tel Aviv by Pini Gershon and closed the circle in 2009 with the Panathinaikos of the Great Zeljko Obradovic. For his part, Sloukas reigned with Olympiacos in 2012 under the orders of Georgios Bartzokas and in 2013 with the Israeli-American David Blatt, in 2017 with the Fenerbahçe of the 'old fox' and last year with the Ergin Ataman Pao.
After an ephemeral return to Barça (2012-13), Saras wanted to hang the shoes in his beloved Zalgiris and then began his work on the benches in 2014 as assistant to Gintaras Krapikas, whose dismissal In January 2016, it resulted in the ex -Azulgrana debut as the first coach.
From the first day, Jasikevicius has been characterized by the capital importance that gives the defense, for its vehemence on the bench and by a maximum demand that begins precisely by itself. Five Leagues and three Cups of Lithuania with the Zalgiris and the two ACB leagues and the two cups of the king who achieved with Barça, but The Euroleague is still resisting after five participations in the Final Four (the current one is the sixth).
Six presences
The first is perhaps the most meritorious. With much lower budget than the 'greats' of the old continent, The regular phase in the 2017-18 season ended sixth with the Zalgiris and gave the bell in rooms to leave Olympiacos out (1-3). The 1999 champion with the Tyus Edney, Stombergas and Eurelijus Zukauskas fell into 'Semis' against Fenerbahçe (76-67) and ended third after beating CSKA Moscow by 77-79.
That sensational campaign with those of Kaunas put it in the coaches market and Barça decided to sign it in 2020 After some shy previous attempt. After the cancellation of the previous season in March for the Covid, Saras touched the title in its third stage at the Blaugrana Club.
Barça first ended the regular phase with 24 wins (the same as the CSKA), suffered to eliminate the Zenit of Xavi Pascual in the quarterfinals (3-2) and stood in the final after imposing itself by 84-82 to Olympia Milano in 'Semis'. The problem was that In the final he crossed The Anadolu Efes with Ergin Ataman on the most Vasilije Micic and Shane Larkin bench on the track (81-86).
Sarunas Jasikevicius lost the final in 2021 with Barça / EFE
Saras repeated the following season (2021-22) on the decisive weekend of the Euroleague after repeating the square first and with a better balance after the capricious disqualification of the three Russian teams (21-7) and suffered again in rooms against Bayern (3-2). However, was Defeat against Madrid in 'Semis' (83-86) And the team was third (84-84 against Olympiacos).
In his last campaign at Palau, the Baltic also did not fail his appointment with the final to four. Second with 23 victories (one of Olympiacos), Barça knocked out 3-0 to Zalgiris and He lost again against Madrid in semifinals already with Chus Matthew on the bench (66-78) In a horrible game of Mirotic. In the end, Barça was fourth (78-66 in front of As Monaco).
Jasikevicius left Barça badly after receiving an almost insulting renewal offer and enrolled with Fenerbahçe, which led the first to change to the Final Four despite the end of the regular league sixth. The Turks eliminated Monaco with a 79-80 in the extension of the fifth game, but They lost the 'semis' against PaO (73-57) and the game for third place against Olympiacos (87-84).
This season the Club of the Asian part of Istanbul (Kadikoy) exceeded a moment of doubts with several injuries to finish second the regular phase with 23 wins (one of Olympiacos), endorsed a loud 3-0 to Paris Basketball of Tiago Splitter in rooms and knocked out the Panathinaikos champion in the semifinals by 82-76. This Sunday he will fight to break his curse against the Monaco who was also a sensational 'jugon like Vassilis Spanoulis. Will you get it? At least, part as a favorite.
