Virtus, the calm before the storm. From tomorrow we focus on the Greeks and Milan

Great protagonists in the national team, a little less, but not for everyone in their club teams. We are talking about the three black and whites Alexander Pajola, Nicholas Akele e Mouhamet Diouf and the two Milanese Giordano Bortolani e William Caruso who could find themselves facing each other next Sunday in the highly anticipated challenge scheduled for Segafredo Arena between Virtus Bologna e Armani Milano. After the double challenge experienced with the blue jersey against Türkiye and Hungary, the 5 blue standard-bearers of coach Gianmarco Pozzecco they will meet on opposite banks to play the derby of Italy, a comparison that has always had a particular charm and that will count a lot not only for the coat of arms but also for the standings of the two teams.

In the ranking of the A league, Virtus is currently at 28 points, jointly with Brescia and two points behind the solitary leader, and recent winner of the Coppa Italia, Trento. Milan, together with Trapani, has 26 points, just 2 behind, so those up for grabs on Sunday in the black and white arena could really be very important points. Ranking, but also morale because in fact, all things considered, Virtus-Milan could very well be yet another repetition of a challenge that in recent years has assigned the tricolor title. We could rename it as the eternal confrontation between Scarpette Rosse and V Nere and that on Sunday will be its fifth challenge of the season and for the moment sees Armani ahead 3-1, between the Supercup final on September 11 (98-96), the first leg of the Euroleague on October 31 (99-90) and the quarterfinals of the Coppa Italia on February 12 (91-77) to which Virtus responded on December 8 in the championship by winning 73-82 at the Forum in Assago. Regardless of the playoffs, the two teams will meet again on April 4, in the penultimate day of the Euroleague, again at the Segafredo Arena, but as has also been underlined in recent days Achilles Polonara "I continue to think that there will be many matches with Milan. We have to study them. To better understand their weak points and our strong points."

In any case, before thinking about the Italian derby, the team of Dusko Ivanovic must still honour the confrontation on Friday night when, again in front of its own fans, it will face theOlympiakos on the 27th day of the Euroleague. After the scrimmage played on Saturday at Porelli with Forlì, yesterday morning the team had an active recovery and shooting session, while today the Juventus coach had a day off, to then resume full training tomorrow, with the return of the national teams and the beginning of a particularly intense and important period.