Maccabi Tel Aviv coach Yannis Sapropoulos ahead of his Euroleague debut against Alba Berlin: "It will be a different season, but we believe very much in our squad. We will try to catch our pace as fast as possible. There is nothing to think about now about the difficulties around us."
Yannis Sapropoulos.
Want to start with a win
Photography:
Alan Shiver
Six and a half months after the previous season was stopped due to a blow to Corona, Maccabi Tel Aviv will return tomorrow (Thursday, 21:00) to the floor in Yad Eliyahu in the Euroleague for the first game of the 2020/1 season against Alba Berlin.
The yellow champion opens a season after holding only two preseason games and in fact tomorrow will present herself for the first time to her fans.
This is of course the fan audience that will only watch through the television because, as is well known, the game will take place without an audience presence in the stands.
"The debut in yellow is Ante Žižić, Chris Jones and Oz Blazer. As for the new debut of Dragan Bender, the situation is still unclear. He has not played since March and has only trained three times," coach Yannis Sapropoulos said tonight at a press conference. Which took place through the zoom.
On the other hand, Maccabi will be missing three injured who do not start the season: Omri Caspi, John Divertolomao and Yuval Sussman.
'We are not pressuring them to come back.
Do not want to endanger them.
"I estimate that in early November we will get them all," said the coach.
"It's going to be a different season," the coach added, "all the preparations have changed and we started the latest of all because the league here ended late.
We will try to catch our pace the fastest.
I do not think about all the difficulties around.
I want to get through the difficulties.
Nothing will be an excuse.
"We are who we are and we believe in our staff. We will miss our audience very much. We really want to play against them and excite them. We will have to be very focused against Alba who are a good team with good shots. We are going for a marathon and we will not be at our peak."
According to the Greek coach, the positive things that happened this difficult summer in which the budget dropped significantly are keeping a significant portion of the staff and charter flights that the team will fly this season that will help us save time and also defend ourselves during the Corona period.
We saw what happened in the football team.
If that happens to us, it's going to be a disaster. '