Ettore Messina, the new head coach of Real Madrid gave an intereview to Israeli website One.co.il and shared his thoughts about Real Madrid. Italian coach stated that the main goal of the team is to be the top club in Europe.
Congratulations for the signing with Real Madrid, why didn't you continue with CSKA Moscow?
Thank you. I am definitely happy about moving to Madrid. It is a good opportunity for me, an opportunity for something new. I felt this is the right thing for me to do and so I did, I'm glad for the new way.
What kind of team are you building? would Real invest the same money on the basketball team as they did on the football team of the club?
it is obvious that we won't have the same budget, it is not reasonable. these days we work on establishing a good and united team. there are no specific players which I can talk about right now, what's sure is that we work hard on getting a high quality team that will stand in all of our goals.
What are your goals for next season?
As a member of this club you are expected to be the best and to win each game. I won't talk about winning ACB championship, King's cup and Euroleague because it is oblivious that our goals are always win and what's most important is to bring back Real Madrid to the top of Europe. In the last 14 years despite Real's big name the team didn't get to the Final Four so that's why its a very important to be on top again.
You used to meet Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Final Four, do you expect Maccabi to be back to top after last season?
Sure! I have no doubt that Maccabi will be back. Maccabi has one of the best coaches in Europe, Pini Gershon, my friend who knows exactly what needs to be done in such situations. Pini will build a good team and will pick the players as he knows and that will definitely will get Maccabi
back to the top.
Maccabi signed Andrew Wisniewski who you know from the Russian league, do you think he can fit in Maccabi?
If Maccabi decided to sign him up so I think he fits. Pini knows well what he's doing when he signs players. In the last two years in Russia Andrew played well so I guess if Pini decided to sign him it means that he thinks he can be successful in Maccabi.
It was published that you will release Jeremiah Massey and that he is a candidate to join Maccabi, can he do well there in your opinion?
I am not willing to talk about any player specifically. It is not the right time to say to a player if it's good or bad for him to play for this team or the other.
Were you surprised that CSKA did not turn to David Blatt after your departure?
No, I wasn't surprised because at first there were talks that either I will stay for one more season or Pashutin will be the coach. Besides that, I can't remember through out the history that there was a player or a coach that moved from Dynamo to CSKA. It is a hard move between these two clubs. The option of picking a coach other than Pashutin was irrelevant.
