Serbia to play Greece with one EuroLeague player available / News - Basketnews.com

Serbia will take on Greece in the Ano Liossia arena on Friday, with Ognjen Jaramaz being the only EuroLeague player at coach Svetislav Pesic's disposal.

Credit: FIBA Credit FIBA

The Serbian national team has started preparations for the last two matches of the World Cup qualifiers against Greece in Athens on Friday afternoon (18:00 CET) and Great Britain on Monday (19:00 CET).

Nikola Milutinov and Dejan Davidovac will play, as the Serbian federation resolved the insurance issue for the CSKA Moscow players.

In the opening practice, Ognjen Jaramaz was also present, having received special permission from Bayern Munich to play with Serbia in the last two games. Dejan Davidovac took advantage of the break in the VTB League in order to arrive in Serbia earlier, while Nikola Milutinov came to Belgrade in good condition.

However, even before the open practice for the media, it became clear that head coach Svetislav Pesic will not be able to count on players from the ranks of Crvena Zvezda and Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade.

Partizan play Fenerbahce on Thursday night, while Red Star host ALBA Berlin on Friday. In both cases, Serbian teams opted to keep their players in Belgrade in their effort to make the playoffs.

Conversely, Zvezda and Partizan players will be at Pesic's disposal for the match vs. Great Britain at the Aleksandar Nikolic Hall, where a win would be enough for Serbia to qualify for the World Cup.

"We have a situation with EuroLeague players, where only Jaramaz can play. Spanish clubs do not release their players," Pesic commented.

"We talked to the people from Red Star and Partizan, we had some good conversations. They were unable to release the players because they have important matches in the EuroLeague.

It was a different situation in November, now it's the battle for the playoffs. Every victory or defeat can determine their fate. There was talk about the possibility of one of the players joining for another game, but that will be decided when the time comes," he continued.

Pesic also saidMilutinov and Davidovac will only be available for the game against Greece, but not for Monday's contest.

"After the game in Athens, they will pack up and return to Moscow, as they have a regular round of the VTB League there. They didn't get approval for another game," he explained.

The Duel with Great Britain, the last for Serbia in the World Cup qualifiers, will be played on Monday at 20 O'clock on the floor of the .

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