Both Hapoel Tel Aviv and Hapoel Jerusalem will be in EuroCup action on Wednesday night as the pair of Reds will be facing stiff competition as they will look to find a way to beat their respective opponents after falling to both of them in the first round of play.

Dimitrios Itoudis’s Hapoel Tel Aviv will look to get back on the winning track with a home win over Joventut Badalona (19:45) in what will be a home game in Samokov, Bulgaria after having lost to the Barcelona based team in the season opener while Hapoel Jerusalem will visit Valencia (21:45) a team that they fell to as well in their first game of the campaign.

For Hapoel Tel Aviv who sport a 5-4 record good for 4th place in Group A, Johnathan Motley accompanied the team for their game after having left the club for roughly a month over dispute and possibly could see time for Itoudis’s Reds as the Heda Coach spoke about the challenge ahead, “We will face an opponent that can play a variety of styles of basketball. Badalona are very connected, they have players with experience at the highest levels in the Euroleague and recently defeated Real Madrid in the Spanish league. We expect a very demanding match.

“We are in the process of becoming a team that will be very difficult to play against, we are still solidifying the chemistry and working on our offensive and defensive play. We understand the importance of the match. We will fight until the end and compete at the highest level.”

Captain Bar Timor also spoke about the upcoming game, “We are coming into the game after an important league victory, we want to continue the positive momentum and open the second round of the Eurocup on the right foot. Badalona is a strong opponent but we are focused on ourselves and what we bring to the court.”

Over at Hapoel Jerusalem, Yonatan Alon’s Reds who are 7-2 in second place in Group B will try to exact a bit of revenge on first place Valencia, but the highest scoring team in the competition will no doubt be a tough opponent.

“It will be very difficult, but we are coming in with good momentum,” Alon said. “We want to be aggressive and test ourselves against a team at this level. On a professional side, we need to slow them down and close out well on rebounds. These are two elements that we are emphasizing and I hope we will succeed.”