For the second time this season, FC Bayern Munich will head to Russia. This time, their opponent will be CSKA Moscow, who have failed to reach the EuroLeague Final Four twice in the past two decades.
Coach Andrea Trinchieri highlighted the impressive history of the former army sports club. "Actually, I just have to mention the name CSKA, then you can already finish your assessment," the 53-year-old Italian tactician said.
"They are always a candidate for the Final Four, for the trophy. They've had some injury problems, but now the squad is complete and the bar is higher for us again this week. Milutinov, Grigonis and Shengelia are back, so in a normal situation, I don't see many advantages for us.
We know it's going to be super difficult, but we have to play with confidence and be our best version," Trinchieri pointed out.
Trinchieri's Bayern fought their way back to the first half of the standings last week with two home wins against Fenerbahce and Panathinaikos.
CSKA are only one win ahead, at 6-5, but there are reasons for it. After a 5-1 start, Milutinov, Grigonis and Shengelia, among others, were missing for about a month, from matchday six to eleven. Last week, however, they all got back and CSKA prevailed 80-74 in Vítoria-Gasteiz, despite the change of coach there and the mood of optimism.
Bayern's best scorer in the EuroLeague so far is Darrun Hilliard with 14.6 points per game, ahead of Vladimir Lucic (12.9). For the American guard, it's a trip to face old teammates, as he spent two years in Moscow, averaging 10.6 and 8.7 points, respectively.
Bayern center Othello Hunter triumphed with the Russians in the 2019 Vitoria Final Four.
"CSKA is just a big team, with a well-known history, a great coach, great players, and a big budget," Hilliard said before his return to the Megasport Arena.
"We need a complete game there, we need to be very focused, extremely motivated and, as we did last time, continue to get better."
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