Basketball: Armani Milano sacks coach Poeta, Banchi returns in his place

Winning the Italian Cup, Scudetto and Super Cup in just over seven months, but still being sacked. It is the strange fate that befalls Peppe Poeta, relieved of his role as coach of Armani Milano. A decision reluctantly taken directly by the owners and president Leo Dell'Orco, in the aftermath of yet another defeat in the Euroleague, the eighth in a row, against Valencia. The record of 1-9 is too far from the expectations at the beginning of the year and too many doubts in the relationship with some of the big names (Peters, Wright, Guduric in particular) to continue to confirm the coach who in June had completed the first treble in Olimpia's 90-year history, after having inherited the bench at the end of November from the resigning Ettore Messina.

"Olimpia and its owners wish to thank Peppe for the commitment, dedication and enthusiasm with which he carried out his work first as assistant and then as head coach - the note making his farewell official -. Best wishes to Peppe for his personal and professional future". On Sunday afternoon, in the championship against Trento, assistant Marco Ramondino will lead the team on an interim basis. In the meantime, the club has already taken action and identified the replacement, namely the national team coach Luca Banchi.

The signature should arrive in the next few hours, official announcements are expected at the beginning of next week. For him a two-year contract. Banchi, who a few months ago had rejected an offer from Efes for personal reasons, will also retain his position as coach of the national team which will face Turkey in Rome for the World Cup qualifiers on November 26th, in the presence of the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, and Serbia on the 29th. The Milan calendar includes a trip to Lyon on the 24th: for this reason it is conceivable that Banchi will arrive in Milan only after the national team window. The double role is possible: for Banchi only in the first year of the existing agreement with the FIP, in fact, a full time commitment was required.

For the 61-year-old Tuscan coach, this is a return: he had already been coach in the two-year period 2013-2015, bringing the Scudetto back to Milan in 2014 after 18 years of starvation. An epic game 7 in the final against Siena, a late comeback that made the Forum explode with joy. The first of 19 titles of this property. Banchi had also reached the Euroleague playoffs that season, losing 3-1 in the quarter-finals against Maccabi Tel Aviv who would go on to become European champions. Precisely in the Euroleague, with a classification now compromised, Olimpia is now asking him for a change of pace.