Musa misses both matches of BiH and Croatia?
Bosnia-Herzegovina’s best basketball player Džanan Musa (25) will most likely miss the matches against Croatia in the qualifiers for the European Championship as he is recovering from an ankle injury of his right leg sustained in Real Madrid.
“His return to the field will depend on the speed of his recovery,” a Real Madrid spokesman said in a telephone conversation with Hina on Wednesday.
Croatia and BiH will play in Zagreb in eight days, and the return match is on November 24 in Sarajevo. The more successful from that double match will advance to the European Championship, which will be played next year. On October 28, BiH basketball coach Adis Bećiragić included Musa in the extended list of players for the match against Croatia.
However, Spanish champions Real Madrid reported on November 1 that the winger “injured the ankle of his right leg”. He hasn’t played since. Spanish newspapers AS and Mundo Deportivo reported that he will be out of action for about a month. If this forecast is fulfilled, the 205-centimeter-tall player will miss both matches with Croatia.
A Real spokesman declined to say on Wednesday when they expected him to return. In 13 games this season for Real, Musa scored an average of 12.3 points per game.
Croatian coach Josip Sesar invited his club colleague Marijo Hezonja on Wednesday, but he is not sure if he will be available for the first match.
“In the first game we play in Zagreb, we most likely cannot count on Hezonja because of his obligations in the Euroleague”, said Sesar in an address to the media. Real Madrid will play Berlin’s Alba in the Euroleague on November 21, the same day Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina face each other.
“After that first game, we hope for the arrival of Hezonja”, Sesar added.
Hezonja scored 20 points for Real Madrid in a 98-86 win over Virtus Bologna on Tuesday, making him his team’s leading scorer in that Euroleague game. After the match in Madrid, he said that the club will get out of the current crisis.
“We are working well, we are training hard, so sooner or later we will get going. I hope that it will be as soon as possible”, he stated. Real Madrid, last year’s Euroleague finalist, is in 11th place among 18 clubs in that competition. He recorded 4 wins and 5 losses.
“This time we played at a higher level when we needed to”, remarked the 29-year-old Croatian player.
“At away games, for example in Milan, we were not so lucky”, he added. Real Madrid lost to Armani Milan a week ago with 76-85. He was defeated in all five away games in the Euroleague.
“I don’t look at whether we play away or at home, because in the past three years we have played the same regardless of where the game was”, said Hezonja, who won the Euroleague in 2023 with Real Madrid. “Kraljevski klub” had a weak start to the Spanish championship, so after seven rounds it is in third place. Already on Thursday, they will play a new Euroleague match, again in front of their fans, against Anadolu Efes. The Turkish team is ranked 10th.
“It doesn’t matter to me where the opponents are on the table, whether they are first, in the middle or last,” Hezonja pointed out. “I always prepare equally with my team to win”he added.
