Bertram flies to the Canary Islands with a dream in mind: in Tenerife, the first game of the Champions League quarter-finals. The words of Squarcina
The dream of reaching the Final Four starts from the suggestive setting of the Canary Islands. Tomorrow, Wednesday 9 April, Bertram Derthona Tortona faces Game 1 of the Champions League quarter-finals against the hosts La Laguna Tenerife, holders of the home field advantage in the best-of-three series that puts qualification for the Champions League finals at stake. At 21:45 pm Italian time (20:45 pm local time) in front of 5 thousand fans at the Pabellon Santiago Martin in San Cristobal de La Laguna, in the northern part of the island of Tenerife, the black and white team is called upon to perform a feat to take home the 1-0 point and present themselves with match point for Game 2, scheduled for next Wednesday at 18:30 pm at the PalaEnergica Paolo Ferraris in Casale Monferrato.
TENERIFE The only team still undefeated this season after 12 games played in the main European club competition of FIBA, the team coached by Txus Vidorreta has a privileged relationship with the BCL, already won twice (2017, 2022) and in which the Canarian club has reached the final on two other occasions (2019 and 2024). The record numbers in Europe do not end here, they have not lost at home in 28 games and have won all 7 games played in Tenerife at the quarterfinal level in the competition. Led in the direction by the eternal Marcelinho Huertas, 42 years old in May for the Brazilian (15.1 points + 6.9 assists in BCL), and who has as his arm the German world champion David Kramer, one of the best European shooters as demonstrated by the 56.1% three-point percentage with which he travels in the Champions League, the Iberian roster is showing off a super season also at home. The current streak of 10 victories (the last one last Sunday at home against Granada by 95-87), for a total of 14 successes in the last 15 games in the ACB, has brought them to second place in the Spanish championship with a record of 21-5, behind only Real Madrid, the last team against which they have suffered a defeat since last January 12.
WHERE TO SEE IT ON TV The match will be streamed live on DAZN.
STATEMENTS "It is clear that Tenerife, statistics in hand and also as a feeling, is doing something incredible. It is a team that has a roster depth and a quality of Euroleague, for the historical moment it is living it is on par with Real Madrid and Barcelona: for us all this must be a stimulus, it must be nice to have the possibility of playing against them, it is part of a path that we will have to be good at riding and making as sweet as possible”, It's the assistant coach's comment on the eve of the match Iacopo Squarcina. “They play like a computer, managed by that brilliant mind that is Marcelinho and also guided by a coach who is a legend. It is an expert team, that plays by heart, many have been playing together for several years, it has depth and size in all roles. Maybe compared to modern basketball, made of great running and athleticism, they are something a little different, but they manage to mix all the qualities necessary to play at a high level and the results of all these years are giving credit to the way in which they build the team. From our point of view – continues - we will have to stay connected for 40 minutes, we will not have to get distracted, above all we will not get discouraged when they manage to score some baskets that they make easy due to the quality of the players, or even difficult baskets, and in this I think especially of Kramer, who is expected to go and play with Real Madrid next year: we all have in our eyes what he did in the group against Reggio Emilia, managing to create breaks by himself with his three-point shots taken in a complicated way. It will be important to mix the cards, we will have to dirty them up a bit, playing clean becomes too easy for Tenerife. Obviously we will have to impact more on a physical level to not let them do their things in an easy way, in particular their ability to pass the ball, to serve the 217 centimeters of Shermadini both in the short roll - where he is a professor - and inside the area, these are all things to defuse by helping each other. At the same time, we will have to be good at taking the best shots in attack, not get tempted by the first solution against a team that has such physical centers."
