By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
Olympiacos head coach Giannis Sfairopoulos confirmed that team captain Vassilis Spanoulis will miss Friday’s (20/10) game against Unicaja Malaga for Round 2 of the EuroLeague regular season.
Meanwhile, the participation of guards Janis Strelnieks and Vangelis Mantzaris, as well as forward Kostas Papanikolaou, is questionable at the moment.
“Spanoulis is definitely out,” said Sfairopoulos. “Strelnieks won’t practice today. We’ll see how he feels tomorrow, during the morning shootout. “Papanikolaou and Mantzaris had a non-contact practice yesterday. They will try to train with contacts today. But we will see tomorrow if they are able to play.”
The Reds will see guard Brian Roberts making his EuroLeague debut with the team after getting greenlighted to step on the floor in last Sunday’s (15/10) Greek League game vs Kymi. The American playmaker returns to the top-tier European competition after 2012.
Unicaja Malaga is nearly at full strength, save for Jeff Brooks’ absence. A gastroenteritis infection prevented the American forward from boarding his team’s plane to Athens.
Both Olympiacos and Unicaja Malaga began the 2017-2018 EuroLeague campaign with victories, against Baskonia and Fenerbahce respectively.