Berlin – It wasn’t just fleeting hugs, as you know from greetings. Israel Gonzalez held tight to every player, every person around the entire Alba Berlin professional team, probably whispering words of thanks in their ears. It was particularly cordial when Managing Director Marco Baldi stepped forward and had his team’s head coach put his medal around his neck. The corona pandemic has taken a lot from people, professional sports clubs and their fans. But it also gave them this new kind of victory ceremony: Where officials or politicians used to take their medals from a pillow or tray and dangle them around the necks of the winning team, this important moment belongs to the actual protagonists. This procedure had already produced emotional images in the past two seasons under the then head coach Aito Garcia Reneses. The now 75-year-old architect of the current Alba team, which on Sunday won the fourth title of the five national competitions in the past two years.
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