Villeurbanne (AFP)
Villeurbanne managed a feat upon his return to the Euroleague basketball by crushing the great Greek club of Olympiakos, 82 to 63, Friday at the Astroballe under the eyes of its president Tony Parker.
It's been three years since a French team had not played the Queen-Europe competition. For ASVEL, it was nine years.
The French champions are Tom Thumb compared to the European champions, and especially to Olympiakos, triple European champion, the last time in 2013, but they have started the competition without complex.
The Villeurbannais relied on the address of their Americans David Lighty and Jordan Taylor and the activity of the new Nigerian pivot Tonye Jekiri, author of a double-double. But it's mainly their defensive pressure that made the difference from the second quarter. ASVEL conceded 24 points in the first quarter, then only 13 per period on average in the following three.
"The defense is going to be the key word this year, we may have less talent than other Euroleague teams, but we're tough, we have to fight with our weapons. the others, we can do great things, "commented the leader Antoine Diot, one of the recruits of the summer. "It's great, but you have to keep your head on your shoulders, it's going to be a marathon and not a sprint, it's up to us to continue like that."
The Piraeus team no longer has the standing it had a few years ago, but it remains armed to play in the top of the table with players like the Greeks Vassilis Spanoulis and Georgios Printezis. Friday, she was completely suffocated.
The Piraeus players may have paid their lack of competition, they who play only the Euroleague, having been demoted to Hellenic D2 (where they play with a team bis) for refusing to face their great enemy, Panathinaikos , last season. The Villeurbaneans rode in winning their first two games in the Championship of France.
It is precisely the Athens club that will be the next opponent of the ASVEL, next Thursday, again at the Astroballe.
Villeurbanne, of which Tony Parker became the majority shareholder and president in 2014 with the ambition to make it a big one in Europe, got a two-year ticket in Euroleague. The next step will be to become a permanent guest of this semi-closed league.
© 2019 AFP