Ettore Messina revisits ghosts in Belgrade
The words of Ettore Messina
After the Munich mockery, Olimpia Milano is right back on the Euroleague court, again away, this time on the court of Partizan Belgrade, aiming to break a four-game losing streak among all competitions. Ettore Messina, fresh from his renewal, spoke as follows on the eve of the game: "We face the team with the second-largest attack in EuroLeague, which has great talent in the exteriors, and è used to exalt themselves in front of their public. It will be crucial for us, in addition to playing with physicality and aggressiveness, to build good shots on offense and pay attention to the defensive transition, without drops in tension and intensity for the entire 40 minutes".
The Olimpia coach had instead thus spoken after the Munich defeat: “Congratulations to Bayern, but we threw away an’opportunity. We played a good game in general, with the exception of the last part of the first quarter, when we were ahead by 8 points and allowed them a partial, without committing fouls. We did not use them to stop the counterattack, we made two fouls in 15 minutes in the first half, not è a sign of a competitive team. In the second half, we were more aggressive and with good offensive combinations, until the last minute. Then we did not foul on the’last possession. We move forward, in a very difficult season”.
Decisive was the'last possession of regulation: "I drew the game, but I saw that the players were not in the right position. Soì I called timeout, but, at the same time, the referee put the ball in the hands of our player. It created an advantage for them, because they saw what we had drawn. The rules say that if I call timeout, you have to concede it before giving the ball. Otherwise, you don’t grant it. It è was not done on purpose, forò they granted an advantage to our opponents".
Messina also hugged Ibaka at the end: "I congratulated him, as a player and as a person. I am glad that a player of this level is playing in the Euroleague, è important for the competition. Today è he was a very important factor for Bayern".
