Olimpia Milano, Ettore Messina responds to criticism and makes an announcement in key market

On the immediate eve of Olimpia Milano&#8217s last game of the Euroleague regular season (Thursday night against Paritizan at the Forum di Assago), rendered meaningless by the four losses in a row against Paris, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Virtus Bologna, the coach of the Red Shoes, Ettore Messina, wanted to take stock of a complex situation for his team, which also lost two games in a row in the league.

The former national team coach, speaking to Repubblica in an interview published in the newspaper’s Milan edition, responded to the criticism of the last period: “From Belgrade to Brescia, the team has no longer been brilliant either physically or mentally – he said -. Determine competitions we could and should have won them even if impaired, we did not so we are rightly criticized and rightly sorry. But we have always used the period before the Italian playoffs well, with only one game a week, to recover and put the players in the best condition to compete”.

“There’s a section of people who are unhappy and they manifest it, sometimes even a little bit’ over the top– Messina then added -. Then there’s the world of social media, which, frankly, I don&#8217t follow: it seems to me that there&#8217s no peace there for anyone. But there’s a lot of people who are absolutely affectionate with me and the team: they understand the moment and are close to us, like those who came to Bologna and Reggio Emilia”.

Looking ahead to the playoffs, the Olimpia coach announced a intervention in the market: “We will take a player but, d’agreeing with the ownership, we decided to first evaluate the recovery of the injured. Only at that point will we choose who will make the playoffs. I see a serious group, working hard: the moment we recover injuries and physical condition, we will have a chance to play with everyone, as always”.