Luca Banchi ready to challenge his past

Venerdì c'è Anadolu Efes-Virtus Bologna, Luca Banchi against his past

It will certainly be a special challenge that will be staged on Friday at the Sinan Erdem Spor Salonu in Istanbul between Anadolu Efes and Virtus Bologna: not only because of the ranking situation, which sees both currently out of the top ten and in search of important points to still hope at least in the play-in, but also because of the presence, on the bench of the Turkish club, of Luca Banchi, former coach of the Vu Nere.

"Virtus Bologna, with the quality of its roster, è undoubtedly a challenging obstacle – Banchi explained during the presentation of the match -.

After the return from injury of two very important players such as Toko Shengelia and Ante Zizic, they will arrive in Istanbul in their best form, as they showed in the last game played in the championship, getting an important home win against Milano".

"We are preparing hard for this match, the pitfalls will be many,” added the 1965-born coach. What we have to do è face this important challenge with the right aggressivenessà and continuity". The last head-to-head between the two teams dates back to Oct. 4, when at the Segafredo Arena Virtus lost 76-67, collapsing in the last period of the game.

In Turkey, on the other hand, the last challenge è was on April 16, 2024: then it was the Black Vu’s, coached by coach Banchi himself, who came out on top, with a final score of 67-64 in the play-in game between the ninth and tenth place finishers of the regular season.Banchi è remained at Virtus until Dec. 5, 2024, replaced by Dusko Ivanovic. As of Jan. 7 è the head coach of Anadolu Efes.