AX ARMANI EXCHANGE MILAN (ITALY)

Founded in 1936
Team colors: white, red
Honors: Euroleague (1966, 1987, 1988), Cup of Cups (1971, 1972, 1976), Korac Cup (1985, 1993), Intercontinental Cup (1987), Italian National League (1936-1939, 1950-1954, 1957-1960, 1962, 1965-1967, 1972, 1982, 1985-1987, 1989, 1996, 2014, 2016, 2018), Italian National Cup (1972, 1986, 1987, 1996, 2016, 2017), Italian Supercup (2016, 2018)
Arena: Mediolanum Forum (capacity – 12331)
President: Pantaleo Dell’Orco
Head coach: Ettore Messina
Official website: www.olimpiamilano.com

Where to watch

LIVE: Match! Igra (22:40), Match! Strana (replay at 02:10), EuroLeague TV, matchtv.ru
Text online: EuroLeague website

GAME NOTES

Nemanja Nedovic won the silver medal at the 2016 Olympics playing alongside Khimki point guard Stefan Jovic with the Serbian national team. Nedovic and Jovic also won silver together at the 2014 World Cup.

At the start of his career, Khimki star guard Alexey Shved played under current Milan coach Ettore Messina at CSKA Moscow on and off for three seasons, from 2006 to 2009. They won the EuroLeague title together in 2008 and reached the championship game a year later.

Khimki sharpshooter Dairis Bertans spent the past two seasons with Milan. He was a teammate with several current Milan players.

Vyacheslav Zaytsev and Christian Burns played for Enisey Krasnoyarsk in season 2013/2014.

PRE-GAME QUOTES

Rimas Kurtinaitis, Khimki Moscow Region head coach:

“Milan has had ups and downs so far. They are largely dependent on Rodriguez; at the same time Scola and Tarczewski play well. These are their main frontcourt players, and the most important thing for us is to improve the fight under the hoop and on rebounds. We have a lot of players back in action, although Sergey Karasev is still injured. It's an important game, but we can beat them, and we want to do it. Milan has made changes in the squad, as Coach Messina is looking for solutions and does not give up. We are preparing for a serious battle”.

Chris Kramer, Khimki Moscow Region guard:

“It's a very important game for us. If we talk about the playoff race and if we can go and pick up this road win against a team that is battling for the playoff race too, it will put us in a good spot. One can say that this is the most important game of the year for us up to this point. So, we have to go there completely focused and concentrated, leaving everything we have on the court and doing everything we can to win. They've been up and down. I know, they lost in the Italian Cup, so they definitely will be hungry and want to win. We have to be ready for this. Let's see what we can do there and how we will execute”.