Ettore Messina justifies the defeat but foretells a'another absence

Ettore Messina, returning to the bench after the flu in recent days, spoke in a press conference after his Olimpia Milano’s home loss: “Congratulations to Trapani who won and played a more than good game. You know our condition, someone made a goodwill gesture in playing like Shields, we had a lot of heart and will, but little lucidity. Even when we had it open again, we made a couple of mistakes. But the team played with a will not to be affected, including Leandro’s thigh problem. We came up short, we played a game of commitment, it was not enough.”

Having been holding the bench is the injury situation: “No one returns for the Hapoel. In fact, there is a risk of missing someone else and Booker had a major family bereavement. We will do the count on Tuesday or Wednesday”.

Chapter Guduric: “He is not well physically. He has a tendonitis problem that is dragging on, we are moving forward trying to modulate his loads to take him to the next break when he can rest a bit. He has no drive, he has moments when he can do something good, then he tries to help out. Another would have said ‘I stop’. We know, it’s obvious he’s struggling and we’re managing him with the scales. He tries to do things he has always done in his career, but he lacks legs. When we came back from Istanbul, I took him and Shavon aside and told him I could only rest one of them. Markosays I’ll play and possibly rest the next one. Then it happens that Shavon gets sick, Leandro stops and was forced to play today as well. I ask you to continue to give him a hand. The player will come out safe.”

The balance in direct clashes is starting to get heavy: “We are not looking at the long term. It is a very balanced league, but we would have liked to have played the matches in better conditions. This is the rule and even abroad they all struggle after the double round. The only two that come up short are in Athens, because the Greek league has a different competitiveness. These defeats at home, however, we have to make up for them outside. We will have other times when we will pay for this schedule. If we had had the chance to make turnover, maybe even just Leandro healthy, maybe it would have been a different game”.