By John Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Friday’s CSKA Moscow game against FC Bayern Munich at the “Audi Dome” will be a very special one for Andrey Vorontsevich. The 31-year-old Russian will become the player with the most EuroLeague matches in CSKA’s history. He will surpass Victor Khryapa’s 240 games playing in his 241st!
“This is a big thing for me, but something that I have never even dreamed about” Vorontsevich said a few days ago in a EuroLeague interview. This is certainly the case. In some hours, he will remain alone in first place of the list of the players with the most games played in a CSKA jersey in the modern era of the EuroLeague.
2018-19 is Vorontsevich’s 13th season with the Russians. He became a CSKA player before 2006-07 season. He helped his team play in the EuroLeague playoffs in 11 of the 12 seasons since. In two cases, 2008 and 2016, he climbed to the top of EuroLeague. These team successes brought the extra matches, which were helpful on his fast progress to the top of CSKA’s games played ladder.
Only three players have played even more matches with one single team in EuroLeague’s modern history. Juan Carlos Navarro, also the leader in total games played with any team, finished his career with 341, all of them with Barcelona. Dimitris Diamantidis wore Panathinaikos jersey in all his 278 EuroLeague appearances. Sergio Llull is the third; he has played in 246 Real Madrid matches and is still building on his impressive streak.