Italbasket, Alessandro Pajola doesn’t want to discount Turkey

Alessandro Pajola doesn’t want to discount Turkey

It is less and less until the end of the EuroBasket 2025 qualification path. On Thursday in Istanbul, Italy will face the hosts of Turkey (6:30 p.m. Italian time, 8:30 p.m. local live DAZN and Sky Sport Arena) in the penultimate match of Group B. Both already qualified with a 'window' of anticipation, the two teams will take the court not only to honor the competition but also, and more importantly, for the lead in the grouping and the FIBA ranking.

After the morning training, the Azzurri s technical staff chose the 12 athletes who will go on the roster: out Davide Casarin, Francesco Ferrari, Sasha Grant and Matteo Librizzi. Absolute debut in the Senior National Team (the’eleventh of Pozzecco management) for Saliou Niang, fresh winner of the LBA Italian Cup with Dolomiti Energia Trentino and among the best surprises of this season. 

Grades of captain and 50th presence in the National Team for Alessandro Pajola, point guard of Segafredo Virtus Bologna: "It’s a great honor to be the Captain of the National Team albeit for these two games. For me it will be a responsibility but also and above all a pleasure to be the guide of a very young and at the same time very talented group. È it is trite to say that every game with the National Team counts but è exactly soì".

"We are qualified, è true, but up for grabs here in Istanbul is the first place in the group and we are very keen on it. They are a physical, tough formation and they will want to win at home. We, on the other hand, are here to surprise them and then show up in Reggio Calabria to hit the encore in front of a PalaCalafiore that is about to reach sold-out" concluded Pajola.