By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Usman Garuba addressed the heartbreaking defeat in the championship game of the 2026 EuroLeague Final Four Athens, presented by Etihad, confidently asserting that Real Madrid would have won if at least one of their three injured centers had been healthy enough to play.
The complete rupture of his left Achilles tendon during the Semifinals failed to break the 24-year-old forward-center’s resilient spirit. “At first I was furious. And then I started laughing, to be honest. Because I told myself, well, these things happen,” he told AS in an interview published on Tuesday, recalling refusing to succumb to self-pity when the diagnosis was confirmed. “From that moment on, I told myself I had to use the time to focus on things I hadn’t been able to improve before, both physically and mentally.”
After joining fellow bigs Walter Tavares and Alex Len on Sergio Scariolo’s injury list, he was limited to supporting his teammates during the Final against Olympiacos. This proved to be an emotionally grueling experience, forcing him to watch the moment he had been dreaming about for weeks slip away.
Garuba offered a blunt assessment of Madrid’s first completely title-less season since 2011, flatly rejecting injuries as a valid excuse for the club’s failures. “Our club is built to win, and I don’t think anyone at this club is happy just to have reached the final,” he said.
“The EuroLeague loss hurts a lot,” added Garuba. “And I’ll be honest, if one of our three centers had been there, we would have won. It’s that simple.”
The Madrid native quickly dismissed the comfort of hypotheticals. “What happened, happened,” he clarified. “We have to be self-critical and honest. It wasn’t a good year.”
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