Today our team arrived to Belgrade where it will play the final game of the first leg of Euroleague regular championship versus Partizan. CSKA captain Matjaz Smodis is expected to help his teammates against Serbian team which is very dangerous on its home court.
After the injury sustained in the exhibition game in Toronto Smodis did not play neither friendly nor official games. So his season debut can be the main event for Moscow fans. “I am anxious to play and to help my team”, Smodis said.
11 players flew to Belgrade – Nikos Zisis, Victor Keyru, Matjaz Smodis, Ramunas Siskauskas, Erazem Lorbek, Alexey Savrasenko, Trajan Langdon, Alexander Kaun, Victor Khryapa, Zoran Planinic and Terence Morris.
It is very difficult to fight against Partizan on its court. Dating back to the previous season the team won 7 straight Euroleague games on the singing Pionir Arena. But CSKA players also have some good memories about this court. CSKA previous visit to Belgrade was marked with the stunning victory against “grobari” – 86-55 in March 2007. Our team’s rookie point guard Zoran Planinic had his Euroleague career high 30 points in Pionir – playing for Cibona Zagred in November 2001.
“Partizan is a young team which is very well coached. – CSKA head coach Ettore Messina said. - In the first part of the season they showed a lot of energy and earned two wins. Despite the talks that after letting three key players to go Partizan will go down I think the team even raised its level. We respect them a lot and we understand how difficult is to play in Pionir Hall. So we should play a great game to be able to get the win”.
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