Will Nanterre be the 2nd Le Mans for Virtus Bologna?
Will Nanterre be the 2nd Le Mans for Virtus Bologna?
In spite of an impressive acquisition campaign, Virtus Bologna is facing today the elimination from Basketball Champions League in the home game against Nanterre ’92. It could be the same scenario as last round when they stormed past Le Mans, but with Nanterre, the situation is a bit different.
First of all, Nanterre 92 is on the 2nd place in France, after the leader Asvel Lyon, meanwhile Le Mans is a team struggling for the playoff, being now on 12th.
Then, in the 2nd leg with Le Mans, the pressure on Virtus Bologna was minimal. In France, the game finished tied, so the Italian squad had to win at home with a small margin. Now, things are different. Virtus has lost at Nanterre with 8 points difference, which makes the qualification more difficult and the pressure higher. But after all, it could be also a good factor, if Virtus can find in this challenge the same motivation and energy to destroy the visitors as they did with the other team from the Hexagon.
I expect Virtus doing a great match at their home-court, PalaDozza and forcing the qualifiers.
The true fact is that no matter which team will be eliminated in this race, we won’t have the chance to see both France and Italy present in the Final 4. And as well, when this battle is over, the location of the final stage of the Basketball Champions League will be easier to chose, because Bologna and Paris are between the most important candidates, after Jerusalem.
Gratian Cormos, info@brainbasketball.net
Will Nanterre be the 2nd Le Mans for Virtus Bologna?
