By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Valencia Basket will travel to Belgrade for the away game against Crvena Zvezda mts in Turkish Airlines EuroLeague and it will be a hometown return for the Serbian guard Vanja Marinkovic.
Additionally, as a Partizan player, Marinkovic played many derbies against Zvezda in a red-hot atmosphere throughout the past six years. The 22-year-old admitted before the upcoming Round 11 clash that he has been missing that atmosphere since moving to Spain:
“I’m ready for a fiery welcome from the Zvezda fans. I’ve gotta admit that I miss a bit the insults and boos from the stands, to which I’m used to in Serbia. In Spain, people come to the game to enjoy basketball and maybe applaud a good move. It’s another dimension compared to our ambience where it’s always a matter of life or death in the stands. Serbs experience basketball differently”, he told Novosti.
Marinkovic also compared the start of the EuroLeague season for Valencia and Zvezda but also used an opportunity to ‘poke’ the opposing fans: “They started the season similarly to us, in a kind of a slow rhythm. They had a bad start but beat Zalgiris last week on the road. Also, the new coach has arrived, however, I’m not sure the fans will recognize the moment and fill up the stands. Either way, I believe we have a chance of winning. To me, that triumph would be dearer than any other.”