Eurobasket, Italy “black beast” of Serbia flies to the quarterfinals

12.09.2022 – 08:00 – Thanks to an incredible performance, especially as seen in the last part of the game, the Italian National Basketball Team eliminated the Serbian parigrado in the match valid for the round of 16 of the European Championship, bringing home the challenge with the final result of 94 to 86. At the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin, the guys of Coach Gianmarco Pozzecco achieved a result that overturned all predictions; Nikola Jokic’s Serbia, the Most Valuable Player of the last season of the NBA, had dominated their qualifying round and had entered the final phase among the great favorites for the title. On the other hand, having contained Jokic with Melli and Polonara gave the Azzurri the confidence to recover from the initial gap. To decide the remuntada, however, it was Marco Spissu who, after the expulsion of the “Poz” for double technical foul, exhausted Micic and his companions with triple. For the second consecutive year, therefore, Italy has turned out to be a real “black beast” for the Balkans. Last year, in fact, in Belgrade, Italbasket had triumphed at the pre-Olympic tournament qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

This is Coach Pozzecco’s comment at the end of the match: “In my opinion one of the most beautiful matches in the history of the national team, played with a big heart by all the boys. We surprised everyone with an absolute level performance against a very strong team, Serbia, who tried everything to win. It’s easy to mention Marco Spissu’s incredible match, but all the boys should be mentioned, without exception. We have a big heart, a pinch of madness and a lot of compactness. Maybe we are a team that nobody wants to face. An evening that we will remember for a long time “.

The match report:

SERBIA – ITALIA: 86-94.

SERBIA: Jokic 32, Micic 16, Kalinic 12, Lucic 8, Marinkovic 8, Jagodic-Kuridza 6, Guduric 2, Milutinov 2, Davidovac 0, Jaramaz 0, Ristic 0. All. Pesic. ITALIA: Spissu 22, Melli 21, Fontecchio 19, Polonara 16, Datome 6, Tonut 5, Mannion 2, Ricci 2, Pajola 1, Tessitori 0, Baldasso 0, Biligha 0. All. Pozzecco