Tomorrow, Bertram will be at the big dance at home in the LBA Super Cup: "An additional boost from the Nova Arena."
The first official match of the season, played at home in the competition that will award the first trophy of the season at the Serie A level in two days. Bertram Derthona Tortona is not lacking motivation on the eve of the match against Umana Reyer Venezia, valid for the semifinal of the 2026 LBA SisalClub Super Cup, a competition that will be held at the Nova Arena, beloved by the Bianconeri team, which entered the "magnificent four" thanks to reaching the final of last season's Coppa Italia.
At 5:00 PM tomorrow, Saturday, September 19th, Mario Fioretti's team will try to secure a ticket from the Venetians to the final on Sunday the 20th at 5:00 PM, against the winner of the other semifinal, Armani Olimpia Milano vs. Virtus Costa Bologna, scheduled for tomorrow at 7:45 PM. The match against Venice will be broadcast live on Sky Sport Basket, LBATV, and free-to-air on Cielo, as will the rest of the event.
Endless “rivalry”
The match against coach Neven Spahija's Venetians will extend a unique streak for Bertram. It will be the seventh consecutive match in which captain Pecchia and his teammates will face Reyer in a competitive match. The home team faced the Orogranata on the final day of last season's regular season and in the subsequent, tight first-round playoff series, which the Venetian hosts won in the final corner of Game 5 at PalaTaliercio. The rosters have changed quite a bit since those matches, but the core of players and coaching staff have remained unchanged in both, giving the match a somewhat rematch-like feel less than four months later.
How do the two teams arrive?
It hasn't been an easy preseason for Fioretti's team, due to several roster issues, to which the players have responded with remarkable dedication. Three players, Paul Eboua, Edoardo Di Meo, and Siim-Sander Vene, will still be missing from the Venice game. For their part, the Venetians, led by former coach Leonardo Candi, will be without one of their new arrivals, guard Sir'Jabari Price, due to injury. His replacement, Erick Green, returning from last year's season in Cantù, is highly doubtful due to bureaucratic delays that prevented him from arriving in Italy until the eve of the match.
Andrea Vicenzutto's point
Speaking before the match, assistant coach Andrea Vicenzutto said : "Playing in the Super Cup at home is a motivation that adds to the already significant feeling of participating in such a major tournament. From the first day of training, we, as staff and players, tried to create a modus operandi that would allow us to be as strong as possible for the first match. Our preseason was plagued by small issues, but we managed to overcome them very well thanks to two factors: the dedication of the players, who continued to train very well, and the readiness of our under-15s. All of this helped us overcome some difficult moments due to numerous absences."
"The excitement, responsibility, and sense of belonging of playing this competition on our home turf will play a key role in our positive momentum. We also know that the physical and energetic impact of facing a team like Reyer will be significant," analyzes the 35-year-old coach from Pordenone.
"There's this funny coincidence between us and Reyer. We finished last season with six consecutive games against them, and we find ourselves facing them again in the first game of the new season. Many of the players are new, but many are returning from previous head-to-head matches: I'm sure this is a factor that will fuel a healthy sporting rivalry."
