Italy’s basketball star Danilo Gallinari threatens to miss the European Championship.
The 34-year-old winger suffered a knee injury in the 91-84 win over Georgia in World Cup qualifiers. “After what we’ve seen with Danilo, it’s hard to talk about basketball. Of course we wish him well and we’re waiting for the MRI to see what happened to him,” said team captain Luigi Datome. There was no precise diagnosis at first.
Gallinari switched from NBA club Atlanta Hawks to league rivals Boston Celtics in the summer. The veteran is considered the leader of the Italians and had already scored 17 points in 15 minutes when they won the World Cup qualifier on Saturday evening.
At the European Championship, which begins on Thursday and takes place in four countries, Italy is contesting its preliminary group in Milan. The final round will then take place in Berlin.