Ettore Messina reacts to the end of 56-day EuroLeague drought / News - Basketnews.com

"I think I did fairly well in 15 years of EuroLeague. You lose nine games and you think everything you did in your life doesn't count for anything. Of course, I feel relief," Messina said.

Credit: Dainius Lukšta Credit Dainius Lukšta

EA7 Emporio Armani Milan have won their first EuroLeague game since October 20 by defeating Crvena Zvezda in Belgrade's hell on Thursday night.

Player of the Game EFF 30 Brandon Davies Points 15 Accuracy 6-11 Rebounds 6 Assists 7

Ettore Messina and his company snapped a nine-game losing stretch. After the win in the Serbian capital, Messina pointed out that he believed in his team because he had seen no signs of the broken squad.

"I am very happy for my players because they are going through a lot," he began.

"You notice when the team is broken, you see some signs. If you have watched our games, you could see that our players always played hard. We did not play well, which is different.

"On Sundays in Italy, we always do great games. For example, this year we have already won three games on the road in three cities where we lost last year. And we won by 20. So, you don't have a feeling that the team doesn't like the coach anymore. Sometimes when you lose a lot of games, it's fair. I have always felt my players are coming very professionally," Messina stressed in the post-game conference.

The coach then referred to the relief he feels after a long-awaited victory.

"I think I did fairly well in 15 years of EuroLeague. You lose nine games and you think everything you did in your life doesn't count for anything. Of course, I feel relief," the Italian specialist said.

"I am fortunate because our management are incredible people. They are not putting any pressure on us. We feel bad because we would like to be in a better position but I still have a lot of faith," he added.

Milan's head coach also commented on the last timeout with 4 seconds to go in the game (Armani were leading 71-67 at that time), which provoked some negative reactions from the stands.

"I know some people got mad but we lost games with even bigger than a four-point advantage in a very short clock and, secondly, we have a minimum hope to keep fighting for the eighth place.

"Every bucket, every point difference is very important in this league, in the league where nobody tonight was thinking that we will win this game but it happens here. There is so much balance in this league, anything can happen."

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