It’s gonna be the Chacho Night. Olimpia touched down in Madrid on Sunday night and will face the perennial EuroLeague contender from Madrid on Tuesday. It’s like returning at home for Sergio Rodriguez who played for Estudiantes early in his career and later spent six seasons with Real, with a EuroLeague triumph and a MVP trophy on his spectacular resume. The last time he faced his former team was during the EuroLeague semifinal game in Vitoria last season and he had a 23-point effort on his way to lead CSKA Moscow to the title. He will face a lot of former teammates, his former coach Pablo Laso and some guys he spent a lot of summers with at the National team level. Not Sergio Llull who should be out along Felipe Reyes with an injury. Reyes is the only active player older than Luis Scola in the competition. Coach Ettore Messina also will pace the sideline against his former team. Olimpia will leave Madrid right after the game and will face Valencia on Thursday in the Mediolanum Forum.
COACH ETTORE MESSINA– “We face a great team, with great tradition and obviously this is a very difficult game. They have high-level physicality that will be used to control the rebounds and run. We will have to limit turnovers and set the right tempo in order to have a chance to compete”.
THE OPPONENT – Real Madrid is riding high. After starting the season 2-3, it won eight straight games and now is sitting in second place. Sunday morning, Real won by twenty in Seville testing Gabriel Deck. The team has a 12- game winning streak going against Milan who never won in Madrid in a EuroLeague game. The point guards are Facu Campazzo, who is coming off a 17-assist game, and Nicola Laprovittola, a former Spanish league MVP. Both won the silver medal at the last World Cup with Argentina. Coach Laso has also sharpshooting guard Jaycee Carroll, Fabien Causeur and the experienced Rudy Fernandez on the perimeter along the Swedish Jefferey Taylor. Among the big men: Anthony Randolph, Gabriel Deck, another World Cup finalist, Trey Thompkins (he has a 20 free throws made streak going on), the Defensive player of the year Walter Tavares and Jordan Mickey.
