Andrea Trinchieri, the head coach of Zalgiris, shared his expectations ahead of the EuroLeague Round 34 game against Real Madrid.
Standings provided by Sofascore
Andrea Trinchieri, the head coach of Zalgiris, shared his expectations ahead of the EuroLeague Round 34 game against Real Madrid.
Just a reminder, if Anadolu Efes loses to Crvena Zvezda in Istanbul and Partizan triumphs against Valencia in front of their fans, the black and whites will secure the 10th position before the start of the playoffs.
“If I have to be logical and rational, the answer is Anadolu Efes. But if I follow my heart, I support Partizan. I can’t have both reason and love in the same sentence.”
Andrea Trinchieri also touched on the announced retirement of Rudy Fernandez.
“Rudy is a winner, he has made a million big shots throughout his career. I have the utmost respect for how he competed and how demanding he was on himself. His spirit, mental toughness, and play speak for themselves. He is one of the greatest icons of the EuroLeague, having won it three times with Real Madrrid, and I can freely say that he is one of the secret ingredients of the winning history of the Madrid giants.”
The Italian will have the task of preparing his team as best as possible for the game against Real Madrid, which will mark Zalgiris’ end of participation in the 2023/2024 EuroLeague season. An interesting fact is that the team that finished the regular season as the leader on the table (since the modern format of the EuroLeague from 2016/2017) has never won the title in the end.
“I think about those numbers, but I’m not a blind follower of statistics. That would mean believing that the EuroLeague champion must necessarily struggle throughout the season. Usually, you have one easy season, and then you stumble at the Final Four. Every year, the team that goes through injuries, bad moments, losing streaks, small or big crises, whatever it may be… comes with some defensive mechanism in the playoffs and at the Final Four,” said Andrea Trinchieri.