An entry misstep. Asvel inaugurated its new venue, the LDLC Arena in Décines-Charpieu, with a new defeat in front of its public in the Euroleague of basketball, cruel because conceded at the end of the suspense, after two overtimes against Bayern Munich on Thursday (101-100) .
The Villeurbannais have no longer tasted success at home in the queen of European competitions since January 26 and a success against Fenerbahçe (91-77).
A series of nine losses, which began at the Astroballe, their venue having become too small (5,500 seats) for almost 20 years for their growth, they who will now play the overwhelming majority of their Euroleague matches at the LDLC Arena, owned by OL Groupe and located opposite Groupama Stadium.
At least the 11,354 spectators who came to witness this baptism of fire got their money’s worth, experiencing a crazy and spectacular end to the match without witnessing a victory for theirs.
Beaten by Bologna (87-84) then Vitoria (88-81) this season in C1, the Villeurbannais came very close, in an incandescent atmosphere from the end of regulation time, to finally opening their counter at home. And to improve a currently poor record (two victories for eight defeats) in the competition.
But they ended up losing on a free throw from Niels Giffey 2 seconds from the buzzer, following a foul called against Joffrey Lauvergne at the other end of the floor, who had the winning basket at the end of his arm but missed the target in the racket.
The double penalty for the Villeurbannais, who squandered a lead of five units 2 min 30 sec from the end of overtime (95-90), pierced in particular by two consecutive winning shots from Sylvain Francisco.
The leader of the Blues equalized twice in the last minute.
Cruel for the Villeurbannais, who had already missed the winning shot at the end of regulation time (74-74) then the first overtime (88-88), each time by Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot, after having made the efforts to catch up.
They had a “truly special” day, in the words of their president-owner Tony Parker on the microphone a few minutes after inaugurating the room by cutting a ribbon as tradition dictates. But not in the way hoped for by the best French basketball player in history.