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The Lithuanian champions lost the last two Euroleague matches in Russia, to both CSKA Moscow and Zenit St. Petersburg basketball players. Before that, M. Schiller’s students rejoiced in a series of 6 consecutive victories.
The Piraeus team arrived in Kaunas in good spirits: on Tuesday, after extra time, they defeated the ASVEL team from Vilerban and won 4 of their last 5 matches.
However, for the Lithuanian champions, COVID-19 is more of a headache than future rivals.
On Wednesday, the unpleasant news reached Kaunas “Žalgiris” that Marek Blaževičius’s COVID-19 test response is positive. The tests of other players and members of the coaching staff on Wednesday were negative, but the club took precautions and decided to separate two more basketball players from the team: Karolis Lukošiūnas and Marius Grigonis.
One had a closer contact with M. Blaževičius, and the leader of the Kaunas residents, about the cold. After receiving their negative responses to the test, both basketball players were able to join the team on Thursday.
“We want to be 100%. Safe so that the quality of training and future games are not compromised. We don’t want to take risks. I’m sorry Mareko, but everything is fine for him, he doesn’t feel bad, he’s well taken care of. He quickly went separated from the team. In the evening, we are waiting for the results of the second test from the remaining team members, “said the strategist from Žalgiris.
According to the Euroleague safety protocol, if the team’s players test negative in the second test, they will be able to play for Olympiakos on Friday.
“As for Olympiakos, they are a team that statistically often stands on the penalty line, aggressive, blocks a lot of shots and produces long attacks. They are also the team that has the main player, Kostas Sloukas, who has been playing very well. Lately. The team of competitors is qualitatively balanced: it has many players, depending on the game, who can win from 15 to 20 points each. A tough fight awaits us really, we are neighbors of the classification. The situation is such that you want to push the opponent below the tournament table after winning, “M. Schiller said at the press conference.
The start of the duel between Žalgiris and Olympiaka in Kaunas is scheduled for Friday at 8:00 p.m.
At the beginning of the season, Žalgiris managed to get a win at Piraeus 68:67 in mutual duel, and throughout the history of 25 matches, the Greek club is just one win ahead of Žalgiris – 13:12.
Next week, Schiller students will face another challenge of two challenges: in Spain, they will compete with Basket de Valencia and Baskonia de Vitoria in three days.
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