Uncomfortable leader

PRE-GAME BREAKDOWN

The Army Team returned to Moscow immediately after the game with Zenit and conducted two full-fledged training sessions - on Wednesday in Krylatskoye and on Thursday on the Megasport parquet.

The opponents are missing the injured Shavon Shields and one of the players with COVID-19.

REFEREES

Matej Boltauzer (crew chief, Slovenia), Benjamin Jimenez (Spain), Gitis Vilius (Lithuania).

PRE-GAME QUOTES

Dimitris Itoudis, CSKA head coach:

We play against a very serious opponent, we had some difficulties in our preparations but we are here, very decisive and determined to play a good game. We are in a very much different situation [since the first meeting], Milan added some very significant players, so we expect a completely different game.

Tornike Shengelia, CSKA forward:

We are preparing seriously, we had a couple of serious practices and I hope we will be ready mentally and physically for tomorrow. In the first game [in Milan] we were really struggling, it wasn’t our best day. Since then we’ve made many corrections. We also watched and analyzed this first game today, we saw what we did wrong so we will try to fix it tomorrow.

“RELATIVITY” CONNECTIONS

Kyle Hines spent seven seasons with CSKA Moscow. He played 218 EuroLeague games with CSKA, helping the team reach every Final Four in that period, during which they won a total of 173 games and EuroLeague crowns in 2016 and 2019. During his time with the club, he was named team captain and voted as the competition's Best Defender in 2015-16 and 2017-18.

Sergio Rodriguez spent two seasons with CSKA, from 2017 to 2019, and helped it win the 2019 EuroLeague title. He played under Coach Dimitris Itoudis and was a teammate of the majority of the current CSKA squad.

Coach Ettore Messina had two successful stints coaching CSKA. In his first four-year period in the Russian capital, Messina guided CSKA to two EuroLeague titles (2006 and 2008) and reached two more championship games (2007 and 2009). He reached the Final Four twice more (2013 and 2014) when he next took the reins.

During his years at CSKA, Messina coached only two players from the current CSKA roster, Nikita Kurbanov and Alexey Shved.

Daniel Hackett played for Milan for a season and a half. Hackett joined Milan in December 2013 and stayed there until the summer of 2015. He was a teammate with Nicolo Melli, and the two helped Milan reach the 2014 EuroLeague Playoffs.

Hackett and Melli not only played together at Milan in 2014 and 2015, but have also been teammates on the Italian national team.

Shavon Shields and Toko Shengelia were teammates at Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz for two seasons, from 2018 to 2020.

Nikita Kurbanov and Malcolm Delaney played for Lokomotiv Kuban Kransnodar in the 2014-15 season.

IMPORTANT NUMBERS

Johannes Voigtmann has made at least 1 three-point shot in four of his last five games.

Will Clyburn has made at least 1 three-point shot in five of his last six games.

Marius Grigonis has made at least 1 three-point shot in four of his last five games.

Alexey Shved has made multiple three-pointers in eight straight games.

Shved has made 12 consecutive free throws.

Shved is seventh all-time with 453 three-point shots made for his career. Milos Teodosic is sixth with 471.

Shved ranks 10th all-time in scoring with 2,955 points. Mike James of AS Monaco is ninth with 3,000 and counting.

Shved is in 11th place all-time with 602 free throws made for his career. Mike James of AS Monaco is 10th with 611 and counting.

Shved ranks 13th on the all-time charts with 850 assists. Nando De Colo of Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul is 12th with 862 and counting.

Will Clyburn ranks seventh this season in scoring with 15.0 per game.

Johannes Voigtmann ranks fourth in the league this season in two-point shooting at 73.7%.

Nikola Milutinov had multiple offensive rebounds in eight straight games.

Milutinov ranks seventh on the all-time list with 496 offensive rebounds. Jan Vesely of Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul is fifth with 506.

Marius Grigonis is ranked second all-time in free throw accuracy at 92.4%.

PAST MATCHUPS

Wins/losses: 13-9

1965-66. European Champions Cup. Semifinal. CSKA – Olimpia: 57-68 (-11)
1982-83. European Champions Cup. Final Round. Olimpia – CSKA: 94-86 (-8)
1982-83. European Champions Cup. Final Round. CSKA – Olimpia: 79-78 (+1)
1996-97. Euroleague. Preliminary Round. Adecco – CSKA: 87-74 (-13)
1996-97. Euroleague. Preliminary Round. CSKA – Adecco: 70-55 (+15)
2008-09. Euroleague. Regular Season. CSKA – Armani Jeans: 90-64 (+26)
2008-09. Euroleague. Regular Season. Armani Jeans – CSKA: 80-79 (-1)
2010-11. Euroleague. Regular Season. CSKA – Armani Jeans: 73-88 (-15)
2010-11. Euroleague. Regular Season. Armani Jeans – CSKA: 71-65 (-6)
2014-15. Euroleague. Top 16. CSKA – EA7 Milan: 97-75 (+22)
2014-15. Euroleague. Top 16. EA7 Milan – CSKA: 79-88 (+9)
2016-17. Euroleague. Regular season. EA7 Milan – CSKA: 64-79 (+15)
2016-17. Euroleague. Regular season. CSKA – EA7 Milan: 101-64 (+37)
2017-18. Euroleague. Regular season. CSKA – AX Olimpia Milan: 93-84 (+9)
2017-18. Euroleague. Regular season. AX Olimpia Milan – CSKA: 81-107 (+26)
2018-19. Euroleague. Regular season. AX Olimpia Milan – CSKA: 85-90 (+5)
2018-19. Euroleague. Regular season. CSKA – AX Olimpia Milan: 101-95 (+6)
2019-20. Euroleague. Regular season. CSKA – AX Olimpia Milan: 78-75 (+3)
2020-21. Euroleague. Regular season. AX Olimpia Milan – CSKA: 87-91 OT (+4)
2020-21. Euroleague. Regular season. CSKA – AX Olimpia Milan: 76-84 (-8)
2020-21. Euroleague. 3rd place game. AX Olimpia Milan – CSKA: 83-73 (-10)
2021-22. Euroleague. Regular season. AX Olimpia Milan – CSKA: 84-74 (-10)

SHORT DOSSIER

AX Olimpia Milan, Italy

Founded: 1936
Colors: red, white
Home court: Mediolanum Forum (11,200)
Owner: Giorgio Armani
President: Pantaleo Dell’Orco
Head coach: Ettore Messina
Website: www.olimpiamilano.com
Trophy case: 3-time Euroleague champions (1966, 87, 88), 3-time Cup Winners Cup champions (1971, 72, 76), 2-time Korac Cup winners (1985, 93), Intercontinental Cup winners (1987), 28-time Italian champions (1936, 37, 38, 39, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 57, 58, 59, 60, 62, 63, 65, 66, 67, 72, 82, 85, 86, 87, 89, 96, 2014, 16, 18), 7-time Italian Cup winners (1972, 86, 87, 96, 16, 17, 21), 3-time Italian SuperCup winners (2016, 18, 20)