It goes without saying that this is the major poster of the group stage of Group C: after a first victory for their entry into the running against Estonia and Croatia, respectively, Italy and Greece will cross the iron, tonight at 9 p.m., for a major challenge: the provisional first place in their group.
On paper, Greece may have a better momentum before approaching this second meeting, because it faced a better opponent than Italy. The match between Greece and Croatia was indeed decided in the “money-time”, with Giannis Antetokounmpo decisive on the last actions.
The Italian players have understood this well: they will have to be ready to raise their level of play, facing the most dominant player on the planet.
” We will try everything [pour diminuer son impact]. He’s a huge player, and it’s truly an honor to play against him, and to try to make his life difficult during this game.” said Luigi Datomethis Friday in the mixed zone.
But if the “Greek Freak” is certainly the hub of the Greek selection, Italy does not forget the quality of the casting around him.
” Greece is just a good team actually. They have a lot of great players, like Kostas Sloukas, Kostas Papanikolaou, Ioannis Papapetrou or Tyler Dorsey, who was a hit against Croatia. So we have to play the perfect match against them, we don’t slow our pace declared Achille Polonara.
In any case, we can count on Italy to play with extra soul: the players will give their all for Danilo Gallinari, who suffered a serious knee injury a few days ago.
” It’s a big loss for us, so we all want to redouble our efforts. He was one of our leaders and our best players. I am saddened by his absence concluded Achille Polonara.
