Third time unlucky? Olimpia Milan’s season begins with familiar struggles

Olimpia Milan had a rough start to the EuroLeague season. Between a lack of defensive intensity, injuries, and roster chemistry still far from being found, the Italian side now awaits the return of Sergio Rodriguez, who Olimpia will celebrate before the game against Real Madrid. Can the Italian team find its way again when Chacho is in the house? For the third year in a row, EA7 Emporio Armani Milan’s start to the EuroLeague season was disappointing, to say the least. The team, coached by coach Ettore Messina, began its European campaign with a 2-5 record.

Notable among these defeats was a 21-point loss on the road against Olympiacos and a stunning home collapse against Zalgiris Kaunas, in which the Italian team led by as many as 27 points but still lost.

Even last season, after the first 7 games, Messina’s team had a negative record of 2-5, while in the season before that, the record was 3-4.

It took a victory in the Italian derby against Virtus Bologna, a team perhaps even more struggling than Milan in this early season, to break a negative streak of four losses in a row.
Another recurring theme in Milan’s early season has been injuries. Currently, Messina has to do without all his centers – Josh Nebo, David McCormack, and Ousmane Diop. All of them arrived during the offseason and are all unavailable due to injuries.

Knowing it’s only November, it’s already quite a significant injury list, and with a particularly jam-packed schedule of games, such a shortened roster struggles even more to keep up. This was clearly seen in the last Italian championship game played by Olimpia.

Milan was defeated by as many as 34 points by Trento, a team playing in the EuroCup and currently leading the Italian championship.

In that game, Olimpia had only 10 senior players at its disposal, and the rest of the bench was completed by players from the youth team, such as center Luigi Suigo.