Our team will face Astana from Kazakhstan for the first time in history in VTB United League game.
Contrary to usual, the army men did not fly back home after the Euroleague game and stayed in Paris because Charles de Gaulle airport is not working at night. In the morning the flight was also delayed due to heavy fog. The players got back to its headquarters at 7 pm and obviously had to postpone their planned practice. So the preparations to the game against Astana were limited to the only practice on Saturday with lengthy video session. Only Andrey Vorontsevich did not practice with the team as he continues to work out individually.
“Astana is probably not so well-known to our fans but it is a good team which is very well-coached”, CSKA head coach Ettore Messinasaid. “They are coming after huge win against Triumph. They play fast; they have excellent point guard in Johnson and they have balance. To win we should rebound better than we did in France.”
Interesting fact: Astana is coached with Italian Matteo Boniciolli. Boiciolli was Messina’s assistant in his last year of work for Italian National Team in 1996-97. Later they were the biggest rivals in famous Bologna derby when Messina coached Kinder and Boniciolli led Fortitudo in 2001-02 season. In 2003-04 season Boniciolli was the head coach of Sicilian team called… Messina.
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