By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Partizan Belgrade coach Andrea Trinchieri returned to his native Milan, Italy a week ago following the suspension of all basketball action to the coronavirus pandemic. The Italian coach is still in quarantine in a place that he described as something akin to a ghost-town.
“Milan is the city of the dead. You can go to the supermarket, you wait there for two or three hours. Now they’ve introduced apps regarding people’s movement. Since I arrived from Serbia a week ago, I have an obligation to quarantine for a certain period, so I can’t go out at all,” Trinchieri said in an interview with Kurir.
Milan and northern Italy were in the center of the coronavirus outbreak in Italy. The country has been one of the most gravely affected by the virus in the world, with 18,849 deaths and 14,577 cases overall as of Friday evening.
“I try not to look at the numbers, you know, anyone can interpret them in their own way. If I did, I’d fall into depression. This will pass, I take the pandemic as a kind of message. Messages for the way we live on this planet. And even now, I see how many are behaving. They are stupid and irresponsible. Here in Italy, in America, in Serbia… it’s similar everywhere.”
Trinchieri said he keeps in touch with his players. “I keep calling them but basketball is the last thing we talk about. I want to know how they are, how they through all this. I also tell them that we had a fantastic season, that we were the best anywhere we competed, that we did it together. No matter how it ended, it will be remembered forever.”
Partizan was at the top of the ABA League when the championship shut down and would face Unics Kazan with homecourt advantage in the EuroCup quarterfinals.
“And what a relationship we had with the fans… In short, they have the right to be proud,” Trinchieri added.