EA7 Emporio Armani Milano, after the knockout in Brescia and the double round in the Euroleague lost in Istanbul and Tel Aviv, hosts Umana Reyer Venezia, who comes from the success against Reggio Emilia and the defeat in the Eurocup in Riga against Prometey.
Where to see it: Sunday 2 April 2023 at 18.30, Eleven Sports and Eurosport 2
Referees: Roberto Begnis, Andrea Bongiorni, Christian Borgo
PREVIOUS
The two teams have already faced each other on 102 occasions, 78 of which won by Olimpia.
Venice won only 5 matches out of the 49 played in Milan, winning for the last time in the Lombard capital, on March 17, 2019 (86-87).
THE GONE
The first leg match was won by the orogranata 77-69, with Granger the home team’s best scorer, ahead of Brooks and Spissu (13 points each). This match dates back to matchday 4, mostly played on 23 October 2022.
THE ABSENT
EA7 Emporio Armani Milan – Devon Hall is unavailable with an osteochondral lesion in his right knee;
Gigi Datome and Paul Biligha are unavailable.
Human Reyer Venice – Marco Spissu is unavailable.
THE EX
EA7 Emporio Armani Milan – Stefano Tonut played in Venice from 2015 to 2021, winning the two Orogranata Scudetti in 2017 and 2019, the 2020 Italian Cup and the 2017-18 FIBA Europe Cup. From an individual point of view, Tonut won the MVP and Best Ita award of the 2020/21 season of the championship. In total there are 257 appearances for him in domestic competitions, scoring a total of 2230 points.
Paul Biligha completed two seasons with the Reyer jersey, winning the FIBA Europe Cup in 2018 and the Scudetto in 2019. In Venice he averaged 4.9 points and 2.3 rebounds in the 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 seasons.
Human Reyer Venice – Jeff Brooks played for three years in Milan (from 2018 to 2021), winning 2 Super Cups and 1 Italian Cup.
Riccardo Moraschini completed two and a half seasons at Olimpia (2019/20, 2020/21 and the start of 2021/22 before his doping ban), completing 71 games on Italian soil and averaging 4.8 points and 2.8 rebounds in 17 minutes of medium employment. With the then A | X Armani Exchange he won the 2020 Super Cup and the 2021 Italian Cup.
THE STATEMENTS
Neven Spahija, coach Umana Reyer Venice: “Both teams come into the game after a bad defeat, but Milan have an extraordinary team, with a great coach. This year they’ve had some problems mainly due to injuries, but they’ve shown great reactions after the defeats, so we’re expecting a very difficult match for the value of the opponent. However we are preparing well to do our best and I expect a reaction from the team, as it has already shown in training. Spissu is back and we fielded a lot of aggression and quality. We now have a foreign extraplayer, so we can choose and we will do it tomorrow after training. Before Mokoka’s arrival we were suffering from a physical size perspective on the perimeter: we needed more athleticism, more body to put on. We took a younger player than the others: all teams need veterans, but we needed a young, hungry and very athletic player, because from my point of view we also need a certain balance between veterans and youngsters. I repeat, Milan is a crazy team, so if we want to compete we have to improve in everything, not just in some offensive and defensive details”.