By Thahir Asmal, PA Sport

Goliath is coming to town.

That's the scenario in Amsterdam on Tuesday, where reigning Dutch champions Astronauts face the toughest assignment on the opening night of the EuroCup when they host Italian powerhouses Virtus Bologna.

Virtus are one of the proudest clubs in European hoops history, while Amsterdam truly are one of the minnows in this competition.

They are David.

Amsterdam know this is a chance to make headlines, and they are loving every minute of the build-up to the Sporthallen Zuid clash.

"The feeling is great amongst the players," said Kristian van Loon, an Amsterdam forward.

"We have a lot of excitement because Virtus is a big, big club.

"Everyone wants to play and is focused, so we will give it our best and see how it ends."

No one is giving Amsterdam much of a chance.

Virtus, the club that counts Sasha Danilovic, Antoine Rigaudeau and Manu Ginobili among its former players, have won 15 Italian league titles.

They were regular participants in the Euroleague, winning the famous competition on two occasions.

In 2000-01, they achieved a rare European treble, capturing the league, Italian Cup, and Euroleague titles, and after financial problems led to their relegation and a couple of seasons in Italy's basketball purgatory
the Lega Due, they have struck back with a vengeance.

After winning promotion and narrowly missing out on the Lega A play offs last season, they have started the current campaign without losing a game in six games.

They've even won the great Bologna showdown (against Fortitudo), arguably the biggest basketball derby in the world.

Van Loon is not in awe.

"Of course it will be tough, they are the number one team in Europe, but we will give our all," he said.

If the fans are nervous, they're certainly not showing it.

"The mood amongst our fans is normal, because they show more interest in the league," the 21-year-old Van Loon said.

"But this will come as the (EuroCup) competition moves forward."

The Dutch title defense has proved very difficult so far for the Astronauts.

They have only managed three wins in nine games, while Bologna are the Lega Basket leaders, unbeaten in Serie A with six wins out of six.

Yes, this does appear to a big a huge mis-match. 

But Van Loon doesn't believe the poor start to the campaign will have any bearing on Tuesday's game.

"Yes, it may appear that we are struggling, but we won our last game against Leiden (78-67) and the confidence is coming back," he said.

"We lost many, but if you look at the final scores in at least four or five, it has been really close losses," he said.

"This is a really young team which we have this year, and confidence is something which will have to grow slowly."