The opponent is hot and anxious to revenge

Anadolu Efes is impatiently waiting for CSKA in Istanbul. The Turkish team only loss in Top 16 happened in Moscow in the very first game of the second stage of the tournament.

Before leaving for Bosphorus banks red-blue team got the final version of the roster: the signing period in Euroleague was over on Wednesday night. Dionte Christmas was the last one to leave the team. The American guard found out that his ‘army service’ is over before the practice on Thursday but he asked coaches to let him work out with the team and he got some warm farewell words from ex-teammates afterwards.

The dozen boarded on Transaero flight 9797 misses Victor Khryapa who continue to rehabilitate after injury as well as Evgeny Voronov, Alexander Gudumak and Dmitry Korshakov. At the same time Theodoros Papaloukas was added to the roster and flew to participate in the away game for just the second time this season.

“It will be a very difficult game on a hot court against a team which is in great shape because after losing against us in Moscow they won six straight games,” CSKA head coach Ettore Messina said. “We need to continue playing on the same level we showed in the game against Panathinaikos and one more time consistency through the game meaning balance, limited turnovers, rebounding well and playing together will be the key to try to get a win against an excellent Anadolu Efes.”