Ioannis Sfairopoulos announced the sixth-round EuroLeague game in which Crvena Zvezda hosts Bayern.
The Greek coach immediately received a question about potential reinforcements, to which he had a very clear and specific answer.
“No, thank you for that question. I believe in the players; we will continue with this team. Nemanja Nedovic hasn’t played since I arrived. Branko Lazic got injured in my first game against FMP. Adam Hanga was out of the team for the last derby. We are not yet in full strength, and we need to regroup first. You never know, but currently, I’m not thinking about changes,” said Ioannis Sfairopoulos, adding:
“Injured players start training today, but you know how it is – Nemanja Nedovic had a long break. Adam Hanga’s break wasn’t as long. They will try today, and we’ll see how much they can do. Tomorrow is another shooting practice; they will be there. I’ll decide about the two of them then. Branko Lazic is out… The doctors are responsible for him. He took a strong hit to the ribs and is undergoing therapy. Everyone in the medical team is taking care of him and trying to get him back as soon as possible.”
The Greek coach also emphasizes that there have been no additional discussions with Nemanja Bjelica.
“We haven’t talked yet; now the priority is to start winning. I will definitely talk to him. It’s in the plan.”
Regarding what Crvena Zvezda needs to improve in their game to secure a victory against Bayern, Ioannis Sfairopoulos says:
“I expect us to play with energy and intensity from the first moment to the last. We want to focus on this opponent. It doesn’t matter what has happened before; we want to be consistent because even in the previous game, we had very good moments against a tough opponent. Of course, we need to improve our defense. I don’t want to gift our opponents so many layups and easy points.
We’re still building chemistry; everyone needs to understand their role. I repeat: we need to be more consistent. In the first game, we started poorly, then took the lead, and ultimately lost. In the second game, we started better, had a bad second quarter, but then came back from a 20-point deficit to six points. For me, the priority is to play for 40 minutes.”
The Greek coach doesn’t hide his disappointment with the two consecutive losses in the “eternal” derbies.
“We are very disappointed that we didn’t win. On the other hand, if we keep thinking about those two games, we’ll lose the next one. We are only thinking about Bayern. Tactically, we needed to play better defense, which is crucial… And on the offensive end, we are working on playing as a team on both ends of the court.”
Finally, Sfairopoulos expressed how much it means to him to have support despite the two consecutive losses.
“I’m very happy that we have support; they told me that the ultras are on our side. We know we haven’t succeeded in these two previous games, but we are working really hard. The players have a new coach, new ideas to improve, and to start winning important games. This isn’t the best moment for us, but I’m very happy that the fans are with us. Big clubs have to live like this. I hope for the first EuroLeague win under my command.”
The game between Crvena Zvezda and Bayern will take place on Thursday at 6:30 PM (local time) at the Stark Arena.