Stefan Peno: “That Barça squad was good on paper. Whenever I needed something, Tyrese Rice, Pau Ribas and Brad Oleson were there”

Stefan Peno He landed in Barcelona when he was just 14 years old, in the summer of 2011. The Serbian point guard completed a large part of his training in the Barça youth academy and He debuted with the first team at the age of 17during the 2014-15 season. A year later he played a total of 26 games between the Endesa Super Cup, the Endesa League, the Euroleague and the Copa del Rey. However, after being transferred to Alba Berlin of Aíto García Reneses, did not return to the Palau Blaugrana.

Peno has great memories of his time in the Barçaespecially his first steps with the first team and the 2016-17 season squad. “That Barcelona squad was really good on paper. With Vezenkov, you could see right away that he had something special. Everything he does today, he already did then,” he recalled in a conversation with ‘Basketball Sphere’.

The Serbian dedicated words of admiration to Sasha Vezenkovcurrent MVP and Euroleague champion with Olympiacos. “You don’t need a lot of shots or a lot of dribble to score 20 points. I was still young at the time, but Georgios Bartzokas believed in him and little by little he introduced him to the Euroleague“he explained.

Peno He also recalled the support he received from the most experienced players during his first years in the elite. “My roommate was Ante Tomic on several occasions and, of course, we talked about many things. In a way, I also communicated a lot with Vezenkov because he speaks our language and was already very mature at that age,” he added.

“Of course, on the track, whenever I needed something, there were Tyrese Rice, Pau Ribas and Brad Oleson. “I was very lucky to have such a great team at the time, where everyone was willing to talk and help others,” he concluded.