Pascal Donnadieu is back. The Nanterre coach was struck by the virus in early November, and had been unable to coach since, leaving his team, for three Eurocup matches, in the hands of his assistants. The commuter group also returned from Trento last Wednesday with a meritorious victory (102-104), which will be a promising element, at the time of going to challenge on its floor, behind closed doors, a team from Boulogne -Levallois intractable, and which currently dominates the championship (6m, 5v-1d).
It is therefore in this derby, traditionally hot and tense, but which will be held on Sunday in a much more gloomy and muted atmosphere, behind closed doors, that Pascal Donnadieu will make his return. As he says, ” I’m not in the shape of my life ”, but the Ile-de-France coach is happy to return to business on the ground, those of Nanterre at first, then of the France team, which he will join, as one of the assistants of coach Vincent Collet, during the window international which will start in Pau next Monday. Person at risk, following a pulmonary fragility, Pascal Donnadieu still lived complicated days.
“It is recovering slowly. I returned to training on Friday. We knew it would be complicated, I came close to hospitalization, but we were able to avoid it because it was very well monitored, almost daily by my doctor and my pulmonologist. I think the hardest part is behind me ”, he judges.
For his team, which should be full on the players side, the hardest part is ahead against the men of Jurij Zdovc, and their defense, the second of Jeep Elite with Dijon (69.8 pts conceded).
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