Bertram on the eve of the seven days that will decide his immediate future in the Champions League. Squarcina's words on the trip to Chemnitz
Exactly seven days to find out the fate of Bertram Derthona in the second phase of the Basketball Champions League. Almost a month after the last time, the Bianconeri coached by Walter De Raffaele return to compete in the main European club cup of FIBA. They will do so tomorrow at 20:6 pm in Germany on the field of Niners Chemnitz, a challenge of the fifth and penultimate day of Group G that precedes by exactly one week the closure at home of BAXI Manresa. Having left today for the city of Saxony located a short distance from the border with the Czech Republic, Tortona - first undefeated in the group but followed by 16 points by the next opponent Manresa - is hunting for a success that would give even more hope of winning the group and thus going directly to the second group phase (the Round of 28 that starts on January 29-7) without going through the Play-In, structured like last year in a series of the best of three games (8-14, 15-21 and 22-XNUMX January, the dates). For tomorrow's match Paul Biligha is still in doubt, already absent on Saturday with Treviso but left with the team.
CHEMNITZ Battling with Benfica to grab the third and final position useful for qualifying for the Play-In with the 2 points in the standings earned thanks to the +28 home first leg against the Portuguese bottom team, the team coached by the Italian-Argentine Rodrigo Pastore, a former player of the Italian minors, was beaten in the first leg by Bertram 87-81 in the match that on October 2nd inaugurated the second European campaign in the history of Derthona. The Germans observed a rest day last weekend in the Bundesliga, where they currently share third place with Bayern Munich with 6 wins in 9 games.
WHERE TO SEE IT ON TV The race will be broadcast live on DAZN.
STATEMENTS "The possible success in Chemnitz will not give us the mathematical certainty of the first final place because that will most likely depend on the last match in Manresa, we are already sure of at least the first two places, however tomorrow's match is very important because winning in Germany would mean showing up in Manresa with the possibility of losing within the 17 points with which we won in the first leg and still finishing first. Losing with Chemnitz, on the other hand, would lead us to the obligation of having to win in Spain”, says the assistant coach Iacopo Squarcina. "It is very difficult to imagine that Chemnitz could lose their current third place, which is worth qualifying for the Play-In, so the game for them might not have much significance in terms of the standings, but what is certain is that the atmosphere will still be nice and warm. Historically they have a large following, warm support, an entire city that follows them, they often sell out. It was also seen in the last home game of the championship against Wurzburg in which they won with a great comeback in the fourth quarter, you could feel the great energy that the fans transmitted. So, they will try to make a good impression in front of their fans, it will be an environment that we will have to deal with in a "guerrilla" way. Compared to the first leg, their team has changed very little, the only obvious thing is that Jaron Johnson is no longer there, who went to Varese, but they have now completely included Victor Bailey, who made his debut against us and is also doing well in the last games, a left-handed point guard who gives a good contribution in attack. But in general their game system has remained the same, after all they have had the same coach for years. To try to win - keep it going - first of all, it will be necessary to physically impact against a team that really focuses on intensity, on putting bodies on each other, on dirtying every reception and aggressively switching on defense. At the same time, we will have to control the defensive transition and the pace of the game because it is a team that loves to run the field and create its own partials on the counterattack. We will have to be solid in limiting their run, not producing those turnovers that can ignite both the players and the crowd”.
