Real Madrid wants to park its doubts at the Mediolanum Forum
MADRID, 2 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Real Madrid will once again test its European reliability in an always demanding visit this Thursday (8:30 p.m.) to the Mediolanum Forum in Milan, where one of its direct rivals awaits, the Italian EA7 Emporio Armani Milan, against whom it needs to recover the path of victory in the Regular Phase of the Euroleague 2022-2023 so as not to set off the alarms.
The ten-time European champion is not hitting the key at his start in the continental competition, where he is leaving more shadows than lights, which has already resulted in three defeats in five games, two of them at the WiZink Center, and all of them by a narrow margin.
The team led by Chus Mateo is not leaving its best image, the victim of an irregularity that has increased as soon as it has had to alternate the Endesa League and the Euroleague after a promising start in which it won its first six games and conquered its first title , the Endesa Super Cup.
But now there is some anxiety after the four defeats conceded against Barça, Olympiacos and Virtus, in the European tournament, and against Cazoo Baskonia, which show that there is still some lack of coupling in the new project, marked by the current problems in direction and a certain defensive weakness, as reflected in the 95 points conceded against Sergio Scariolo’s Italian team, who until his visit to the WiZink Center had not scored more than 66.
And now Real Madrid will have to wake up to another team from the Lega such as Armani Milano, a rival that does not stand out either for its offensive power (72.4 points) and yes for its defensive power (74.4), but that comes from suffer a serious romp at the Palau Blaugrana (74-56).
The setback against Barça left Ettore Messina’s team with a balance of 3-2 after a start to the season in which he has not been too reliable either, also marked by the physical problems of two of his important players, Shavon Shields and Luigi Datum.
The first will continue to be low, while the forward has just returned and is still not at his best level, which is noted by an Armani Milano who has noticed in his ranks the departures of Malcolm Delaney and a Sergio Rodríguez, who will return to the one he was his house for the past three seasons. Messina will be able to count for the first time on Canadian point guard Naz Mitrou-Long, one of his reinforcements along with his compatriot Kevin Pangos, and centers Brandon Davies and Johannes Voigtmann.
Chus Mateo has demanded a defensive improvement to have options on a field where the Madrid team won on their last visit by a tight 73-75. Real Madrid recovered from the defeat against Virtus with a resounding 91-69 victory against Carplus Fuenlabrada, a duel in which Guerschon Yabusele had a rest, and he will return in this match, in what will be the only novelty in the ranks You meringues.
EA7 EMPORIO ARMANI MILAN: Pangos, Hall, Thomas, Melli and Davies –possible starting five– Datome, Hines, Baron, Ricci, Voigtmann, Mitrou-Long, Alviti and Tonut.
REAL MADRID: Llull, Deck, Musa, Yabusele and Tavares — possible starting quintet — Sergio Rodriguez, Abalde, Hezonja, Poirier, Cornelie, Hanga and Ndiaye.
–REFEREES: Radovic, Latisevs and Trawicki.
–PABELLÓN: Milan Forum.
