What a test Virtus with the giants of Monaco

The calendar of the twenty-third day of Euroleague predicts that this evening (20.30pm live on Sky) the Virtus guests the French of the Monaco to the Segafredo ArenaIt is an uphill battle for the formation of Dusko Ivanovic with the Montenegrin coach having to deal with the absences of Ante Zizic and Will Clyburn against an opponent that the paper and the rankings say is of a superior rank.

"Today we have to face a complete team - explains the Juventus coach - that I believe was built to play in the final four of this competition. They can count on excellent players and many solutions both in one-on-one with Mike James, Okobo and Lloyd, and in the paint with Motijeunas".

Despite the absences, the Bianconeri are going through a good moment having won four of the last six matches. The fact that these successes have arrived even when Toko Shengelia was out shows that the Bologna team is a very compact group, although the recent return of the Georgian long was seen as excellent news also because, beyond the depth of the Monegasques, the real problem is linked to the amount of fuel in the tank, a factor not to be underestimated when the cadence of the commitments is so close together.

Obviously, the public will need to push, but this external help is increasingly a certainty, especially when the matches of the first continental competition are played. There is nothing at stake, given that the play-in is an unattainable horizon, but this newfound fighting attitude gives even more value to the effort of the players in honoring the shirt they wear.

"We certainly have another tough match ahead of us from a physical and mental point of view – says the Virtus captain Marco Belinelli –. We are facing a team that is coming off three consecutive losses and will want to approach this game aggressively right from the start, both in attack and defense, trying to steal balls and find easy baskets. They have great individual players and we will have to take the field in the right way, as we have been doing in this last period. It will be necessary to find solutions in attack by playing as a team, without giving the ball away in the opponent's half of the court".

In the meantime, the club is always on the market looking for a player who can help the group fill the gap created by Will Clyburn's long injury and at the same time can coexist with the American winger former CSKA when he recovers from the problem with his left foot. Instead, Ante Zizic is expected with the Croatian center who could return for the final eight of the Italian Cup that will be played in Turin from February 12 to 16. This event notoriously rewards the team that in that short period of time is both in better shape and more confident. Hence the fact that this trophy was also lifted by outsiders, a group in which Virtus will fully fit if nothing continues to arrive from the market. Tonight the referees are Peluga, Dragojevic and Bittner, with the first leg that ended with the score of 101-85 in favor of the French.