Even Bastian Schweinsteiger is a guest. The soccer world champion of 2014 sees a defeat for the Bayern basketball team in Belgrade. "We suffered," admits coach Andrea Trinchieri.
Belgrade (dpa / lby) - Even Bastian Schweinsteiger did not miss the annual financial statements of the Munich basketball players. The 2014 soccer world champion attended FC Bayern's guest game in the Euroleague on Thursday evening at Partizan Belgrade. Schweinsteiger has a close relationship with Serbia: his wife Ana Ivanovic, the former world-class tennis player, is from Belgrade.
In front of the impressive crowd of 17,574 fans, the 38-year-old experienced another defeat for Munich on the international stage. The team of coach Andrea Trinchieri, previously coach of Partizan himself, lost 77:83 (29:41) and had to accept the eleventh defeat in the 16th game.
"We started slowly, but improved a bit in the second half. In the end we ran out of breath and just didn't have the energy to win the game," said center Othello Hunter, who has 16 points and 14 rebounds was the strongest from Munich. Former NBA professional Dante Exum (19) scored best for Belgrade.
The weakened Munich team, who due to injury played without Niels Giffey, Andreas Obst and captain Vladimir Lucic, had problems with the strong physique of the Belgrade team. The game was also made more difficult for Bayern by their own poor shooting rate from a distance.
But they didn't give up and even came back after half-time. With just three minutes to go, Trinchieri's side reduced the deficit to three points. However, setback Exum kept Belgrade in the lead.
"Partizan played tough, hard, they were excellent in defense. We suffered, but we played with the only possible way to build a game and try to win in the end," said Trinchieri. "We're missing three of our best pitchers, so you sometimes have to look away on offense because we didn't shine that well. But then we fought hard, fought, closed the gap and had a chance." For the Munich team, the Bundesliga continues in Rostock on Tuesday.
