Real Madrid Defeats Barça in Intense “Clásico” to Secure Top Spot in Euroleague

Madrid, Oct 26 (EFE).- Real Madrid extended its impeccable start to the season with its thirteenth victory in thirteen official matches and the third against Barça (65-64) in three “Clásicos” to date, this Thursday with a double prize because it allows him to remain alone at the top of the Euroleague classification.

The white team ended up taking the victory in an intense duel, with alternatives and an uncertain ending where anything could happen and was resolved at the free throw line.

Both teams faced the clash with two free spots in their usual quintets, which were left by the last-minute injuries Guerschon Yabusele and Nico Laprovittola. In this way, some saw their power diminished without the Frenchman and others gave up their top scorer and their top assistant in the Argentine’s absence.

The latter’s relief when it came to scoring points was taken at the start by Jan Vesely, who scored 6 of his team’s first 11. Walter Tavares replied on the other side, with identical figures. The difference is that the Cape Verdean were the only ones who scored in seven and a half minutes, while more teammates joined the Czech. Thus, after a triple by Tomas Satoransky that made it 6-14 at the start, Chus Mateo was forced to call a timeout.

That break did not change the dynamics, as Real Madrid continued to be unable to score anything from beyond the vicinity of the rim, with Vincent Poirier in the role of Tavares to convert between the two of them 10 of the 12 points in that stretch (12- 19, min.10).

The perimeter debacle of the Madrid team went from anecdote to a serious problem on the return to the hardwood while Willy Hernangómez danced in the zone, punishing with 9 of his team’s initial 11 points until they almost doubled their rival on the scoreboard (16-30 , min.34). Initials and finals, because right at that moment the blaugranas resigned in attack.

Without adding anything in the six minutes that remained until the break and beyond, they gave life to a Real Madrid that made up for its thickness by capitalizing on the offensive rebound (13 captures in the opposite field in the first half) and was getting closer little by little. The final stroke was given by Gabriel Deck with six points in a row… and another three more as a result of a three-pointer at the buzzer, the first that came in after fifteen attempts (28-30, min.20).

After the break, Deck continued doing his thing, finishing a 16-0 run where he scored 11 of the points and which served to put the team in white ahead for the first time in the game. It was then that the public and Barça relaxed, ensuring that the locals did not go further than four points until a run of 10-2 opened the abyss to ten points ahead of the decisive event.

Faced with an apparently upset opponent, the feeling was that the home side needed to be focused to close out the game. But Roger Grimau’s team still had life left, so much so that they chained a favorable 3-13 thanks to the Lithuanian Rokas Jokubaitis while Real Madrid continued to fail from long distance.

This is how the visitors faced the last minute two down and tied the match with 48 seconds left. Facundo Campazzo, with two free throws, returned the lead to Real Madrid. The video then entered the scene so that the referees could check whether a rebounded ball touched Jokubaitis’s arm before going out the sideline.

They decided yes and the subsequent foul in possession by those in white allowed Campazzo to score another point, but not decide the duel. He also converted only one of the two he had on the other Satoransky basket to leave the face-to-face at 62-60 with nine seconds remaining.

It was then the turn of Real Madrid’s Argentine point guard again, but he once again forgave one. He also fouled Satoransky’s subsequent 3-point attempt, giving the Czech three shots. He missed the first, converted the second and threw the third to miss. He captured the ball by Mario Hezonja and put his team at +4 from the free kick line. It was enough to counter a final triple by Álex Abrines and seal the victory in a lackluster duel on the part of both sides.

– Datasheet:

65 – Real Madrid (12+16+23+14): Campazzo (6), Deck (20), Musa (4), Abalde (-), Tavares (8) -starting five-, Hezonja (7), Sergio Rodríguez (4), Poirier (14), Llull (2) and Rudy Fernández (-).

64 – Barça (19+11+11+23): Satoransky (10), Abrines (11), Kalinic (7), Da Silva (3), Vesely (12) -starting team-, Parker (-), Jokubaitis ( 6), Parra (-), Hernangómez (13), Brizuela (2) and Nnaji (-).

Referees: Ilija Belosevic (SRB), Milan Nedovic (SLO) and Luka Kardum (CRO). They eliminated Satoransky for five fouls (min.39)

Incidents: match of the fifth day of the Euroleague basketball match played at the WiZink Center. In the preview, a minute of silence was held in memory of Fernando Fernández-Tapias, member of the board of directors of Real Madrid, and Carlos Alfredo Guerini, former player of the soccer team.

Madrid, Oct 26 (EFE).- Chus Mateo, coach of Real Madrid, admitted that despite their victory against Barça (65-64) his players came out “very eager to win very soon, when the games last forty minutes” and downplayed the fact that they remain undefeated, something he considered “an absolute anecdote” because the season “is very long.”

“It was a very even game. They came out with a very good mentality and it was difficult for us. We were very eager to win very quickly and the games last 40 minutes. When we started to execute a little better, in the third quarter especially, we have achieved an advantage of up to 14 points, the same as they did in the first quarter” he summarized in Movistar.

He explained that there are times when games have to be won like today. “We have not played well or beautifully, we are playing better and I think people are having fun with us but today was not a fun game, it was tense, both teams wanted to win and I think we understood well that we had to have a little patience at the end,” added the white coach. EFE

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Madrid, Oct 26 (EFE).- Roger Grimau, Barça coach, lamented after losing 65-64 against Real Madrid for the third time this season that his team lacked fluidity in attack, although defensively his players completed “a very good game.”

“We had a very good quarter and a half, we know the quality of Real Madrid and that they are always in the game,” explained the Catalan coach on Movistar.

In his opinion, the fact of leaving a team like the white team, leader of the Euroleague, below 70 points reflects that its players have been well behind, although in attack they made numerous mistakes and ended up giving in due to their lack of fluidity.

Asked about the last-minute absence due to injury of Argentine Nico Laprovittola, he said that “whenever you don’t have a player you miss him” although this Thursday his teammates played “very well” basketball and completed a first quarter and half of the second “brilliant”. EFE

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2023-10-26 21:22:30
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