Sports Globe (February 17, 1999)

Nikola Loncar (Huventud)

Excellent games of our international players marked the 24th round of the Spanish basketball championship. The most meritorious for the victory of Barcelona in the away game against Gran Canaria (92-79) were Milan Gurovic who scored 25 points in 33 minutes and had two rebounds and the captain of our national team Aleksandar Djordjevic who scored 17 points and had six assists, proving to have returned to a good form. Nikola Loncar and Miroslav Beric also gave a significant contribution to the victories of their teams. Loncar scored 17 points for his team Juventud and Beric with 9 points, two rebounds and three assists was one of the best players in the team of Tau Ceramica.

The most important victory in the 21st round of the Italian championship scored Beneton in the game with the present European champion Kinder. The team of Zeljko Obradovic and Yugoslav national team center Zeljko Rebraca was leading in Treviso even with 17 points up. Yet the team from Bologna only succeeded to diminish the defeat - Beneton - Kinder 84-80 (51-43). Rebraca finished the game with 13 points and seven rebounds. In spite of the excellent game of Sasa Obradovic (23 points) and the lead of 9 points up in the first halftime, Pompeii failed to win Teamsystem.

After 21st round of the Italian football championship, the leader of the standings changed. Lazio from Rome, with the Yugoslav national team players Sinisa Mihajlovic and Dejan Stankovic, did not win in the away game against Cagliari and failed to score ten victories in a row, but took the lead in the Italian championship with a draw (0-0). This is the first time in 25 years that Lazio is leading the championship.

Successful start: Vujadin Boskov

The biggest surprise made Perugia, new team of our coach Vujadin Boskov, which managed to win at home favoured Inter 2-1 after a much better play. It is true that guests were playing without Ronaldo, Zamorano and Roberto Bagio but that does not diminish the success of the home team. Successful debut of Vujadin Boskov on the bench of the Italian team, completely turned the mood of the fans who were openly protesting in the last couple of weeks against poor games and bad results of this team.

· Before the game, there was a lot of negative electricity at the stands, but after the victory of 2-1, the first in its history against Inter, the fans were entranced. Of course, it was neither easy for me nor for the players, but the most important thing is that we scored a victory. It is always important for the coach to start with a victory, were the first impressions of Vujadin Boskov after the game.