Tías breathed this Sunday, from early on, the aroma of the great events. Those where people come and go, where cars go around looking for the miraculous gap to park, those where the faces of the children - and their parents - reflect illusion. As one approached the Tías pavilion, one saw how those illuminated faces were filled with words. "I think Lorenzo Sanz is coming," said one, while another spoke on the other side: "Do you remember Salva Díez?, well, he's coming too."
Beyond that, two children were arguing whether it was said Arlauckas or Arlauckás, while the Real Madrid and Barcelona shirts mixed in a perfect combination with those of Magec Tías, because it was the big day on the club's annual agenda, the day on which they paid tribute to those 4 players who, being very young, stopped being part of the earthly team to enter the Olympus of memory. The protagonists were, and were, Manuel Seijas Bethencourt, Tomás Fernández Toledo, Tadeo Coll Corredera and Bilal Ahmed Nayin.
The "friends of Magec" match between the legends of Real Madrid and those of FC Barcelona was the best way to pay tribute to these 4 boys who died a few years ago and who remain in the memory of many, and in particular in that of the club.
Intense and hard-fought start
The match started with a very high pace of points, it seemed so easy what the players of one and the other team were doing on the court, that they wanted to play with them, they called you with the assists, the feints, the passes and the shots, with the fight under the hoops, with the rebounds, with every second of basketball that was in that piece of history of national basketball that visited Tías. The first quarter did not have a clear dominator in the scoring facet, although it was soon seen what the weapons of the teams were going to be. Real Madrid was going to look, in principle, for the inside game of Arlauckas, but Barcelona had built two towers in the area so that the Texan would not move, winning the rebounds with a superb Kasun who showed that he was still in top form. The first quarter ended with the score of 21 to 26 for the culés.
In the second quarter, Barcelona increased the pace, continuing with the defensive force, and Real Madrid had many problems when it came to playing a much more practical basketball. Juan José Jiménez and Lorenzo Sanz tried to guide the ball to the rival basket, after passing through Joe's hands, but once again Barcelona prevailed under the hoops, playing very well collectively with Ferrán Martínez directing the orchestra, with Manuel Torralba and Mario Kasun as the main artists of the moment. Barcelona managed to open a gap, and the Real Madrid bench could not allow that, so the islander Carmelo Cabrera decided to stop the match and organize his team, while José María Soro harangued his team to continue on that path, as they did until the break, with the score of 36 to 51 for the blaugranas.
Emotional break for tribute and memories
During the break, a series of events took place in which the stars of the match, the honorees, were very present. The Cabildo of Lanzarote, in the words of its president, Pedro San Ginés, thanked the legends of Real Madrid and Barcelona for their presence, to give way to the Tías City Council, which through its mayor, Pancho Hernández, and its Councilor for Sports, Kiko Aparicio, presented the two teams with a souvenir for their collaboration, while Real Madrid presented some plaques to the City Council and Magec Tías. The Lanzarote club also presented some gifts to the two teams and the City Council, for the collaboration provided, also receiving, from Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, two official shirts signed by the players, which will be raffled at the end of the season dinner.
After the protocol acts came the most emotional moment, in which the families of the deceased players came down to the court with the thunderous ovation given by the almost 1400 spectators who gathered at the municipal pavilion of Tías and where the expeditions of the invited teams also joined, all standing, giving the greatest of applause to those four players who left very soon to the elite of memory.
The relatives Manuel, Tomás, Tadeo and Bilal were with their other family, the basketball family, the Magec family. After receiving a bouquet of flowers each family, the club gave half of the proceeds to Cáritas in Lanzarote and the other half to Antonio Sierra, who apart from being the referee of the match, is dedicated to the Boufama Foundation of Mali. Thanks to it and the collaboration of the people of island basketball, they can bring balls to play, clothes to wear, books to read, medicine to heal and a long etcetera.
Barcelona's victory
After the memories, we returned to the game. Real Madrid tried to propose a calmer match, with more mobility in attack and more outside shooting. Lorenzo Sanz emerged as the "seeker of impossible gaps", but Barcelona showed no signs of weakness, on the contrary, it was growing, to such an extent that one of the ovations, even more than the block that Arlaukas placed or the dunk that Kasun nailed, was the basket from the outside scored by the veteran Frederic Riera for FC Barcelona and that, when he was substituted, he had to get up from the bench to thank the applause of the public present. While the match continued to unfold with the desperation of Real Madrid to cut distances against a Barcelona that was beginning to like it, playing "at first touch", moving the white team a lot in defense. The quarter ended and the difference of 15, 51 to 66, made it clear that although veterans, they had come to play and that neither of the two wanted to lose because, a classic is always a classic.
In the last quarter the match had fewer tactical reasons and much more impetus. Real Madrid had to give everything and was overturned in the culé basket and that left space for the Catalans to leave with less pressure. Nacho Castellanos had a great quarter, accompanied by Lorenzo Sanz, but in front were the triples of Joseph Sillero and the baskets of Mario Aguado to return equality to the quarter. Time was passing and the baskets continued to consume it side by side, until concluding with the score of 74 to 92, with victory for FC Barcelona.
At the conclusion, the children and not so children, did not waste the opportunity to take photos with the players, ask them for an autograph, be with the greats of Spanish basketball of the 90s. The Tinyala of Playa Blanca took a full photo with Real Madrid players, while on the other hand those of Barcelona were claimed to take a photo with those of Magec. Even the referees and journalists wanted photos to remember the basketball party, where Real Madrid did not win, but neither did Barcelona. On this occasion Manuel Seijas, Tomás Fernández, Tadeo Coll and Bilal Ahmed, four red and black hearts, won.
Technical sheet
Real Madrid: José Miguel Antúnez (11), Óscar González (3), Lorenzo Sanz (22), Juan Carlos Barros (29 and Joe Arlauckas (88). Juan José Jiménez (5), Vicente Paniagua, Gustavo Díaz (5) and Nacho Castellanos (10) also played. Coach: Carmelo Cabrera
FC Barcelona: Roger Esteller (7), Mario Aguado (17), Salva Diez (4), Ferraán Martínez (19) and Mario Kazun (17). Ernesto Martínez (2), Josep Sillero (6), Manuel Torralba (5), Fredric Riera (2) and Julián Ortiz (3) also played. Coach: José María Soro.
Partial scores each quarter: 21-26 / 36-50 / 51-66 / 74-92
Referees: Antonio Sierra, Eduardo Montelongo and Hamza Bihich. Scorer: Dácil Acuña. Assistant Scorer: Pepe Bustillo. Timekeeper: Brenda Hernández. 24": Nayra Barrera. No eliminations.
Incidents: "Amigos del Magec" match dedicated to the memory of Manuel Seijas, Tomás Fernández, Tadeo Coll and Bilal Ahmed, played in the Municipal Pavilion of Tías before about 1400 spectators. The proceeds went to Cáritas and Centro Boufama.
