Bertram sets sail for Venice: direct clash with playoffs in sight between teams in top form. De Raffaele's words
From one lagoon to another. The long and golden March of Bertram Derthona Tortona ends with one of the most difficult and important commitments. The ninth match in thirty days takes the Bianconeri to Venice, where tomorrow at 20 pm at the PalaTaliercio in Mestre there is the challenge of the 24th day of Serie A Unipol against Umana Reyer. Fresh from the historic passage to the quarterfinals of the Champions League with subsequent draw against La Laguna Tenerife, Tortona is trying to maintain the unbeaten run of the month in front of the Venetian lagoon team, also in a moment of great results.
BIG MATCH: While Tortona boasts eight straight wins, evenly split between the league and cup, Neven Spahija's opponents respond with five wins out of five in Serie A (the last coming in another direct clash in Reggio Emilia, 92-87) and nine in their last 11 games, the best record in Italy. The similarities between the two contenders also extend to the standings. They will face the ninth and eighth-placed teams in the table, separated by just two points, which currently make all the difference between being in or out of the playoff zone: the Venetians' 26 points versus Tortona's 28. Last year, the latter number was enough for Bertram to qualify for the playoffs in eighth place, but they have now reached that number with seven rounds to go, with no certainty of making the postseason. From this perspective, it will also be important to pay attention to the basket difference, with the +7 from the first leg in mid-December (89-82) in favour of Derthona.
THE GREAT FORMER It will be the first return as an opponent in Venice for coach Walter De Raffaele, leader of 2 championships, 1 Italian Cup and 1 Fiba Europe Cup on the bench of the orogranata, of which he wrote an era from 2011 to 2023. He shared a couple of his triumphs with another bianconero, Paul Biligha, winner in the Reyer jersey of one of the championships and the European cup and among the protagonists of the recent success-qualification over Würzburg in the BCL with 14 points and 20 of evaluation in just 15 minutes.
WHERE TO WATCH IT ON TV The race will be streamed live on DAZN.
STATEMENTS “It's an important match but not decisive given that there are still many matches to go and therefore many direct clashes in general,” said De Raffaele on the eve of the match . Venezia is in great shape. It will be important for us to replenish our physical and mental energy, after Wednesday's effort in the cup against Würzburg, to try to leverage one of Venezia's hallmarks—their athleticism and physicality—as well as the talent of such a long and talented team. It will also be a priority to try to keep them from running out of space. It's a game that promises to be very tough, as are all the others from now until the end, because every team is playing for a certain objective. Obviously, for me, it will be a different match than the others. It will be emotional to return. I have so much love for Venezia inside me. For me and my family, these past 13 years have been important, on and off the pitch—on the pitch, of course, for the triumphs we've achieved, and off it for the cross-functional relationships that have been created between the team, the players, and the ownership. There will be so many people there whom I will be very happy to greet.
