Bologna –
Statements by Virtus Segafredo Bologna President Massimo Zanetti, made to “il Resto del Carlino” today:
“The Palasport is my worry, we have been going after it since 2019. It seems that it is finally in the home stretch, thanks to the sacrifice of everyone, from the Fair to the City Council, some work has been started. I have been guaranteed that we will have it in 2026. I will remain at the helm of Virtus until it is delivered, because my pride is to be able to give this new facility to the city of Bologna. I will certainly stay until then, but then it is not certain that I will not go on again: basketball for me is truly a joy.”
“It’s true, on the results this year there are problems: in the league we are doing very well, in Europe it’s definitely harder. Almost all the games we lost, we lost them in the last seconds of the game by one less basket, like against Paris, while the ones we won we won by one more basket.
All our opponents have strengthened and that almost all of them are on the same level: every game is decided, one way or another, in the last seconds. Virtus has always fought on an equal footing with everyone and so I am still confident that at some point we will return to winning in the Euroleague as well, there are still so many games left. ”
Banchi. You cannot say that the team played badly, or that the coach was wrong. I don’t see any fault in him: I have the highest esteem and trust in Luca Banchi, we have a contract with him and he has to be calm and, as far as I’m concerned, do his job without any problems.
There are players who are struggling, but I cannot even say that the signings were wrong, because players are like that, sometimes they have moments of crisis and then they come back to be very valid. In the society there is complete tranquility, Virtus for me is a joy and gives me so much satisfaction and so much joy. As I also did for my Industrial Group, at a certain point it seemed right and proper to bring in a partner and I brought in my friend Carlo Gherardi. I wanted to keep the majority precisely because I want to run Virtus until I leave at some point.
Goals? The only cup I am missing in this management is the Italian Cup: maybe the bad luck we have in the Euroleague will reward us in the Italian Cup. The championship? We are doing very well here.
