The perfect closing of the circle. The curtain fell on Andrea Costa’s 10/10 season on Friday at the end of an evening full of strong emotions, on and off the pitch. The red and whites tried to extend the series, but Pielle had everything and too much more. 25% from twos, 60% from free throws and 15 points conceded on second chances were the keys to match 3, after all Ruggi’s final ovation to a team that then went up to the corner to mix with the Shock Wave well explains how, at least this time, the final result mattered very little: «Today (Friday, ed.) I would prefer not to talk about the match – confirms the red and white coach Emanuele Di Paolantonio – This season will remain unforgettable for me. I spent a year here in Imola, at home, by choice and especially for non-basketball issues and I’m proud of what I built with this group of kids and all the staff. My thanks, therefore, go to all the closest collaborators and managers who gave us a hand, namely Sofia Conti and Mario Samachini. And then clearly to all the fans, without whose help we would have made little progress. We have shown that, all together, we are a great team and I am very happy to have rebuilt an enthusiasm that Andrea Costa had been missing for a few years.”
With your head held high
Even though forced to chase from the start, due to those 5′ spent without “goals” from the field, Andrea Costa tried very hard to beat Pielle, but had to give in to tiredness, following Corcelli’s exit due to five fouls already in the third quarter and to the physical superiority of the Tuscans: «I’m sorry not to have won at least one game in this series – continued Dipa – but we went beyond our limits and we were really good. This group has managed to raise the bar every time and we hold this 0-3 with our heads held high.”
And now.. the future
Since Friday evening, a decisive phase has inevitably begun for the future of Andrea Costa, with the current ownership (always contested by the curve) called upon in a fairly short time to answer the many questions of the last few months. The Fip installments often paid at the photo finish with “external” help, the delays in the payment of salaries, the recent eviction from the historic headquarters in via Valeriani and much more, all summarized in those structural difficulties periodically underlined by Di Paolantonio himself. “The future? – here are Dipa’s final words after race 3 – It doesn’t depend on me. I can certainly say that I will not stay under these conditions. Let’s see what will happen.”
It is no secret that the negotiations for the sale of the majority of the Andrea Costa corporate package have been continuing for some time, with Doctor Cristian Manuel Perez and “his” CMP as privileged interlocutors. Since the beginning of the discussions, when Cristian Pavani and Giorgio Bresciani (later “exited”) were also part of the consortium, the “deadline” for signatures had been set at the beginning of June, so the next fifteen days will be decisive. If Perez were to buy the Imola club, then hoping for a confirmation of many of this season’s protagonists (starting with Di Paolantonio) is not a utopia, otherwise the difficulties would create disproportionately, with a budget that still needs to be rebuilt and foundations that are now always more fragile on which to start yet another revolution.
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