An already special night for EA7 Emporio Armani Milan was made even more so on Tuesday with a victory that was also a milestone for its head coach.
Messina joined exclusive EuroLeague 300-win club
Euroleague Configuration
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EA7 Emporio Armani Milan was in celebration mode from the get-go of its 2023-24 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague home opener on Tuesday. A pre-game ceremony honored retired legend Luigi Datome and by stepping on court late in the first quarter, center Kyle Hines broke the EuroLeague record for career games played.
But Milan's cause for celebration grew with a 65-53 victory over visiting Olympiacos Piraeus that allowed head coach Ettore Messina to celebrate a rare milestone, his 300th EuroLeague win since the competition was created 23 years ago, in October 2000.
Messina is the second coach to reach 300 wins in EuroLeague history. His long-time friend and sports rival Zeljko Obradovic leads the all-time standings with 336 wins. Xavi Pascual ranks third with 241 wins, Pablo Laso is fourth at 238 and Dimitris Itoudis fifth with 212 wins. The last coach with more than 200 victories is Dusko Ivanovic with 202, but Ergin Ataman is close behind at 196.
Messina has coached five different teams in the competition. He got 36 wins with Virtus Bologna, with whom he won the original EuroLeague title in 2001 and reached the 2002 EuroLeague Championship Game. Messina went on to coach Benetton Treviso, where he recorded 44 wins. He led Benetton to the 2003 Final Four. He moved then to CSKA Moscow, reaching as many as four consecutive EuroLeague Championship Games from 2006 to 2009, winning the club's first continental crown since 1971 in 2006 and then doing it again two years later, in 2008. He also coached Real Madrid and had a second stint with CSKA before joining Milan. Messina compiled 123 EuroLeague wins with CSKA, 23 with Real and just grabbed his 74th victory with Milan.
Messina has the fourth-best winning percentage (68.3%) in EuroLeague history for coaches who have taken part in 100 games or more. Only Itoudis (72.1%), Laso (69.2%) and Pini Gershon (68.6%) have a better winning percentage.
Born in Catania, Italy, Messina is a four-time EuroLeague champion, as he previously led Virtus to its first continental crown in 1998. Other highlights include six Italian League and 9 Italian Cup titles, six Russian League crowns and VTB League trophies. Messina was chosen twice as the Alexander Gomelskiy EuroLeague Coach of the Year in 2006 and 2008, and also led the Italian national team to a silver medal at EuroBasket 1997. He currently is Milan's head coach and president of basketball operations.