Thiago Motta extols the spirit of sacrifice of two elements in particular

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Archived Juventus’ rounded victory against Cagliari, a 4-0 victory useful to qualify the Bianconeri for the quarterfinals of the Coppa Italia, Thiago Motta commented positively on his team’s performance, extolling in particular the spirit of sacrifice of Manuel Locatelli and Weston McKennie, deployed respectively as central defender and left-back. The availability of the two players is one more reason for the Bianconeri coach to smile.

“I ask availabilityà from my guys and they give it to me,” Motta commented in the press conference.

If one of my players is not convinced, I certainly don’t put him in trouble.

I asked Manu and Weston if they were willing to play in the roles in which you saw them tonight and they gave me maximum availability. The result è was definitely positive”.

The HCL coach also had good words for Teun Koopmeiners and Dusan Vlahovic: “Koopmeiners is good everywhere, today he played in the midfield but he can also adapt at the back. His attitude è very good. Dusan, in turn, had another excellent game: he is always working hard, both in his role and participating in the defensive phase”.

The Juventus coach was also satisfied with the goal scored by Nico Gonzalez, who returned to the field for a few minutes against Venezia and starred tonight with a goal and an assist in 25′ of employment: “We needed his energy and qualities; now we also wait for the others who must return from injuries”.

Professor Castellacci sheds light on Buongiorno’s injury

Napoli should have to do without Alessandro Buongiorno for a little more than a month: è this is the prediction of Professor Enrico Castellacci, who at the microphones of the program ‘Radio Goal’ on Kiss Kiss radio has è unbalanced himself on the recovery time of the defender, who was injured on Monday during the training session under the orders of Antonio Conte.

“Three weeks of recovery seems to me to be few – the former national team doctor ruled, rejecting more optimistic forecasts -, he è fractured two lumbar vertebrae and I think the recovery time is around 35 or 40 days. These are particular fractures in the world of soccer, the case histories are not so present”.

“It è nothing dangerous,” Professor Castellacci went on to clarify, “but it è definitely very tedious. Rehabilitation è relative, you have to give Mother Nature time to be able to let the fractures heal. The physical therapy that is implemented is done to soothe the painful symptoms. It is often helped with an orthopedic brace to lessen the pain”.

Napoli had announced Monday Buongiorno’s injury with a statement released on its channels in which it specified that, following medical examinations to which the player immediately underwent, a fracture of the transverse processes of two lumbar vertebrae had been found, and that Buongiorno himself had immediately begun rehabilitation.

Greek trip for Virtus Bologna

Reduced by the unexpected home defeat against trieste in the championship, which came after the successes in A against Olimpia Milano and in the Euroleague against Baskonia, Virtus Bologna is re-entering the prestigious European competition looking Wednesday night for a not easy rematch against the current fifth force of the continental season, Olympiacos, at the latter’s home.

Coach Dusko Ivanovic reserved a few but clear words, referring to his team, when introducing the game: “Olympiacos è a very strong team, especially when playing at home, experienced and with great players – he said -. Right now we have to find our character and energy to try to win every game”.

If Ivanovic is calling for character, Will Clyburn is aiming not to give the home fans too much to charge their favorite team: “We face Olympiacos, they will be aggressive from the start,” explained the former Anadolu Efes. “They are coming from a defeat in the Euroleague, so I expect a very hot environment”.

“We will have to play a good game, controlling their pace and trying not to turn on their fans. We will have to play our basketball” added Clyburn, one of the veterans of the Euroleague from the height of his 34 years on May 17, thus accustomed to challenges of this magnitude thanks to his experiences with Efes and CSKA Moscow.