Vicky finished his season in the A2 in Italy and from Monday he will join the senior preselection. His analysis of his passage through two European countries in 20/21 and the illusion of being in Puerto Rico.
Victoria Llorente closed her season in Italy and is now ready to join the National Team. With the AmeriCup goal ahead, a contest that will be played from the 11th and in which Argentina will go in search of one of the four tickets to qualify for the 2022 World Cup, the power forward who in the last hours played her last game in Alma Patti from Lega A2 will travel to our country in the next few hours and will join the group that has been concentrating in Buenos Aires for several weeks.
Llorente had just played for Al-Qázeres Extremadura of the Endesa League and after finishing his campaign there (he averaged 8 points and 6 rebounds in Spain) he went to Italy in April, taking his first steps in that competition and showing good feelings (11, 7 points and 9.7 rebounds) on a team that reached the semi-finals of the tournament and was close to promotion until Wednesday’s elimination against Faenza. Now, changing the chip, he will seek to add his experience and quality to the Albiceleste team led by Gregorio Martínez.
This Monday the arrival of Vicky to our country will take place, but earlier, from Italy, the 24-year-old player spoke briefly with CAB press to know a little about their feelings before joining the concentration.
-You come from an interesting passage through Italy, where unfortunately they were left at the gates of a definition. How did you feel in the last time changing league?
-For me, having lived this experience in Italy after finishing my season in Spain was something totally new. It was a new league, a new country, a new basketball from which I am leaving full of experiences. They treated me very well at Alma Patti, from the first day I arrived they made me feel at home, both the board and the coaching staff and my teammates. I am very happy to have been able to share this time with them. We would have liked to be able to go a little further, to have reached that final, but we competed against a great team like Faenza. But beyond that, I’m glad I was able to experience all of this.
-You have to give this a quick turn of the page and think about the selection. How are you in the previous to join this concentration towards AmeriCup?
-I’m really looking forward to it and, as you say, already resetting my head and putting it fully in Argentina. I really want to be there and be able to train with the girls, I want to jump right in. In all this time I saw through the CAB social networks that they were all training, and being here I was still competing it became a bit hard. We have a very beautiful and exciting tournament ahead of us, which requires a great execution from us and for which we must prepare. For my part, I am very happy and happy to be part of this preselection, and with my head in Argentina and the desire to be together with everyone.
-Did you talk something with Gregorio (Martínez, the coach) about the mark that is sought with the team and what they want from you? Dynamic style, fast, with a lot of defensive pressure.
-The truth is that we haven’t talked about the rhythm of the game and the idea it has about my role in the team. I think it’s a conversation we should have when I’m there. But I did chat with the girls and they told me about the style he wants, the high pace of play, the contact and a lot of defense all over the pitch. The truth is that that made me happy, because it is a style that suits me a lot, and without going any further, the rhythm of the game in this league that I came to play in Italy was completely different from that of the Spanish league, much higher. I think I can adapt well to the rhythm of the game, but I don’t want to get ahead of anything and the objective today is to join the training sessions, insert myself into the group and give my best.
-For the National Team there is that challenge of being competitive and I would tell you to recover at a certain point that power that always characterized it. How do you project that idea thinking of Puerto Rico?
-I think Argentina will always try to compete the best it can and reach as high as possible, and this year will not be different. Both the coaching staff and the players want to go and play a good role, to show and leave our country as high as possible. All the more reason understanding that perhaps the tournaments we had before the pandemic did not go very well for us, so I think we all have that pending subject to present ourselves to the AmeriCup playing better, giving our best and representing Argentina as best we can.
.
