Seven o’clock start for Zalgiris Kaunas-Barcelona, the first round of the EuroLeague. It will be played at the Zalgirio Arena, referees Mogulkoc, Foufis and Radojkovic.
Among the Lithuanians, Brady Manek is absent. For Barcelona, Dario Brizuela, who was ill during the week, left with the team for Lithuania.
Andrea Trinchieri, coach of Zalgiris Kaunas, commented on the start of the EuroLeague season: ‘This is one of the strongest EuroLeague campaigns ever. Besides the fact that it will be fun to watch, we have to face this sea full of sharks, strong teams and talented players. I am excited, but it will be a very tough challenge. We have to concentrate one game at a time, pushing ourselves beyond our limits. The only thing we can do is play the best basketball we can and be the best version of ourselves, both as players and as coaches. If we can do these two things, the result will take care of itself.
Speaking about the upcoming game against Barcelona, Trinchieri added: ‘We have to understand right away what kind of game it will be, because nobody knows yet. It’s the first match’.
Joan Peñarroya, Barcelona’s new coach, made the following statements ahead of the start of the EuroLeague: ‘A priori, it looks like a stronger EuroLeague than in past years. We will see later, but I think there will be more teams competing for playoff spots and that the teams at the top will lose more games than in recent seasons.’ Regarding the opener against Zalgiris Kaunas, he added: ‘We are going to a nice court, like almost all the ones in the EuroLeague. There is always a great atmosphere in Kaunas.’ Peñarroya then spoke about the rival coached by Andrea Trinchieri, describing Zalgiris as ‘a fairly new team’ and stressing that ‘any game is difficult if you don’t do well’.
Peñarroya also highlighted the versatility of Zalgiris’ players as one of the main difficulties, explaining: ’They have a very big five like Birutis, the experience of Dunston and a lot of versatility in the 4, 3 and 2 positions, which makes their game different from that of other teams. They will test us both offensively and defensively.’
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