BAXI Manresa travels to Turkey chasing the European dream
Diego Ocampo's team will face Turk Telekom in Ankara in the EuroCup round of 16. It's a historic match for the club, but Gerard Fernández, Dani Pérez, and Louis Olinde will be unavailable.
Excitement in the BAXI Manresa expedition that left Nou Congost this Tuesday. Ahead, an important challenge: competing to overcome the round of 16 tie against Turk Telekom, one of the most powerful teams in the competition, fourth in group B.
BAXI Manresa is playing an unprecedented match in its history, in Turkey. The squad is preparing for the match with optimism and good form after a great victory against Tenerife. It will be necessary to play a great match, but the milestone could be historic. Gerard Fernández, Dani Pérez and Louis Olinde will not travel to Ankara. Fernández has quadriceps discomfort, Pérez has a soleus injury and the German power forward Olinde must rest according to protocol after suffering a trauma in a match with his national team. Max Gaspà will be part of the expedition.
The opponent this Wednesday at 18:00 is Turk Telekom, a team that aims to be one of the greats of the competition. Canadian center Kyle Alexander is the reference for the Turks, along with the wingers Kyle Allman and Jaleen Smith, two physical guards and specialists in pressing through the defense. The Ankara team was fourth in the regular phase, in Group B, just one win behind the group leader.
Diego Ocampo and Álex Reyes were the protagonists of the press conference prior to the New Congost. The Galician coach said that "if we talk about the numbers of the EuroCup, this team is the best defense; they have a great physical display, they press and tactically they are very prepared; they alternate in defense and force you to read what is happening". For his part, the winger from Cáceres explained to the media that "we are aware of the difficulty of the game, we have a lot of enthusiasm and desire; we are mentally prepared to find a very tough opponent, but if we are here it is on our own merits and if we play the way we want for 40 minutes we will have our options; The way to approach the game should be like any other, it's a life or death game but fun to play, it's an opportunity».