More than The Incredible Llull, a nickname that the Real Madrid guard has earned for his ability to achieve impossible baskets, and nothing more unique than three-pointers in the last second, it would be better to talk about The Endless Llull, since the player born In Mahón (Menorca) for 37 years he has not stopped collecting records that portray his longevity in the elite. The last one will fall tonight if The Incredible, or The Endless, is ready for the Euroleague match in which Madrid hosts Bayern Munich at the old WiZink Center, now renamed Movistar Arena (9:00 p.m., Movistar). If coach Chus Mateo gives him the ball, and nothing suggests otherwise, Llull will become the basketball player with the most games in the history of the European competition, 426, one more than the American center Kyle Hines, a globetrotter who last summer He retired after adding to the statistics at Brose Bamberg, Olympiacos, CSKA Moscow and Olimpia Milano.
Third in the group of eternals is Sergio Rodríguez (405), also hanging his shirt, and both of them, and many of those who come behind, are surpassed by Llull in another particularity. The Madrid player is the only one among the 14 men with the most nights in the Euroleague who has completed his entire career in a single club. The next one who meets this requirement is Juan Carlos Navarro, 15th with 341 citations.
“I can only say wonders,” Chus Mateo said yesterday; “Llull has given up many things for this shirt. I don’t know what would happen to us without Llull. He has contributed a lot of Madrid’s greatness. After the departure of leaders like Rudy and Chacho, in tough times you always like to have a role model who gives security, not only to your teammates, but also to the coach, someone to hold on to when things go wrong. I would go into battle with him, on the front line.”
The number dance stuns. Llull is also the player with the most minutes in the Euroleague, 9,391; the highest historical triple player in the tournament, 661 bingos, leader of a Spanish-speaking list, ahead of Navarro (623) and Chacho (609), with Rudy (594) in fifth place; the fifth highest scorer (4,068 points), with Navarro within striking distance (4,152) on the fourth step, and Mike James (4,876), Nando de Colo (4,651) and Spanoulis (4,455) on the podium; the sixth best assistant (1,428 passes), in the wake of visionaries such as Calathes, Sergio Rodríguez, Sloukas, Spanoulis and Teodosic.
Llull landed at Madrid in 2007, from Manresa, when the starting point guard was Raúl López, and in white, today as captain, he has lifted 28 trophies. In the last league match, against Barça, he became the Madrid player with the most games in the League, 620, one ahead of Felipe Reyes. And he leads the white rankings in points (6,477), assists (1,920), minutes (13,463) and triples (985). In the sum of all competitions, only Wayne Brabender (12,479) surpasses the Balearic Islands in scoring (11,740), who occupies the top in the number of matches played: 1,115 to Felipe Reyes’ 1,046.
That loyalty to the shield, his good physical condition after several injuries and a psychological strength that has never worked with external help have made him the last guardian of the essences in Madrid and in the national team. The retirements of Rudy and Sergio Rodríguez in the white club and of Víctor Claver in the national team maintain him as the only survivor of an era (with the Family, seven medals and 173 games). The last old man, as Andrés Nocioni would say. And father of three girls, “a triple-timer.”
Tonight against Bayern, in the first of Madrid’s eight games in 17 days, Sergio Llull will prepare in the locker room like any other day: two socks on each foot, to improve grip. Although it is not a date like the others. In addition to The Incredible, it is The Endless Llull.
