Olimpia Milano, Amedeo Tessitori’s message: "We don’t plan to lose"

Amedeo Tessitori urges Reyer to throw its heart over the hurdle. “It is impossible to face a final thinking about losing it. You always play to win, even more so a final. We came out of the semifinals with a lot of awareness and a lot more confidence because it made us realize that this year’s journey was worthwhile,” he tells Gazzetta dello Sport.

“Here in Venice is home, but after so much time on the road it’s right that after the end of my career I return to my areas, my inner Tuscan needs to return home to Castelfranco; we have a lot of olive trees, a nice orchard, in the last period we planted some vineyards. Am I practical? I would be much more so if I had stayed at home, but when I come back in the summer a little coppicing of the vineyard I go and give it, as well as helping my father and brother in the woods. Those are the times when I recharge my batteries the most,” adds the former Treviso and Virtus Bologna among others.

“But as long as I’m holding up I want to play as much as I can: a lot of exes say they miss basketball, I want to make myself sick, so the missing will take longer to come. And I’m still having fun,” the 1994 class’s closing remark.

After all, Tessitori’s performance speaks for him. In the playoff semifinals against Virtus Bologna, a series closed by Reyer at 3-1, the center was among the big stars: in the decisive Game 4 at Taliercio he put up 22 points, contributing decisively to the resounding turnaround in the last quarter, when Venice scored 33 points in the last 10 minutes to come back from -10 and win 90-83.

A performance that fits into a season of high level for Reyer’s number 16, author of 8.2 points on average in the first phase of the championship and also a protagonist in the recent convocations to the national team. In March, coach Luca Banchi had included him among the 12 called to face Great Britain in the 2027 World Cup qualifiers, confirming how Tessitori represents an indispensable reference point for Italbasket as well.

Now ahead of him is the Scudetto final against Olimpia Milano, the most important appointment of the season. For Tessitori and for a Reyer that, after eliminating defending champion Virtus Bologna, wants to complete a historic feat and bring the title back to Venice.