Euroleague, Ettore Messina explains the dangers of the challenge with Baskonia

Ettore Messina ready for the trip to the Basque Country

Reduced by the championship defeat in the big match against Virtus Bologna, Olimpia Milano is looking for revenge in Europe and tries to give continuity to last week’s success against Partizan: the Red Shoes are awaiting a not easy away game, against Baskonia, a crucial junction to relaunch their ambitions in the postseason.

Ettore Messina, coach of Olimpia, presented the challenge to the club’s official channels: "We face yet another game in a re-staffed set-up, but we are playing to stay in the competition and so for us the Vitoria match is equivalent to a final. Baskonia è just back from a great league win over Barcelona and è a team that manages to play at a very high pace and has remarkable easeà in building three-point shots".

"As a result, we will have to have a solid, high-level defense and match it with a very balanced offense that does not expose us to their transition" explained Messina again on the eve of the match against one of the four teams that currently occupy a place in the play-in zone, the "mini-tournament" that will assign" the last two places for the quarterfinals.

Olimpia Milano, in the first twenty-eight days of the Euroleague, has collected twelve wins and sixteen losses. In March it played two games before the one scheduled against Baskonia: on the 1st, it lost 81-77 at home to Asvel, while on the 8th it beat Partizan at the Mediolanum Forum, with a final score of 85-83.