Valencia Basket climbed to the summit of the EuroLeague regular season on Thursday after defeating FC Bayern Munich 102-87 and benefiting from Barcelona’s victory over Panathinaikos, according to MARCA.
That 8-3 record marks the best start in the club’s history in the continental competition. The roster had to undergo a complete rebuild during the summer under the squad planning of Enric Carbonell, Luis Arbalejo, and Xavi Albert. The campaign had previously begun with a clean sweep of four victories against opponents such as ASVEL and Hapoel Tel Aviv.
Albert said that the team’s relentless full-court pressure disrupted Bayern’s offense throughout the night. Bayern head coach Anton Gavel pointed to 18 turnovers as the decisive factor that kept his squad from mounting a successful comeback.
“Ha sido una victoria merecida. Hemos perdido muchos balones en la primera parte. En la segunda parte nos hemos puesto a cinco puntos pero hemos vuelto a perder muchos balones y hemos encajado muchos puntos para poder ganar un partido así,” added Gavel.
Mitja part Descanso Half time 🏀 8p TJ Shorts 🏀 8p Neal Sako 🏀 8p Armoni Brooks 🏀 8p Gonzalo Corbalán 🟠 @valenciabasket 52 🔴 @FCBBasketball 41 🏆 J11 @EuroLeague ⌚ 0s 2Q 📺 @movistarplus 🤝 @puleva pic.twitter.com/4GV27HU658
The latest round of fixtures proved fruitful for Spanish clubs in the EuroLeague. While Valencia sits atop the standings, FC Barcelona moved up to fourth place, and Real Madrid jumped to fifth after defeating Crvena Zvezda 105-84.
MARCA reported that if the regular season ended today, a domestic Clásico playoff matchup would await fans in the quarterfinals. The table remains tightly packed across the board, with only a single victory separating first place from ninth place.
Behind Valencia in the logjam at the top, Panathinaikos, Olympiacos, and Barcelona share identical records. Meanwhile, Baskonia sits at the bottom of the table with a 1-10 record following eight consecutive losses.
Valencia Basket returns to continental action on Tuesday at 20:45 local time, travelling to face Partizan in Belgrade, as detailed by Las Provincias.
We lose to the top Spanish team.#VBCBAY #FCBB | Photo: EuroLeague pic.twitter.com/1wkyBRyzbq
Lucic, Beauchamp, Hollatz, Norris, Washington, Obst, Jessup, Thiemann, Jokubaitis, Wiley, Voigtmann and da Silva are in the lineup against the third-place team in the EuroLeague.#VBCBAY #FCBB | Photo: Stickel pic.twitter.com/iDkFb4EZvF
Final 3Q! 🏀 12p TJ Shorts 🏀 12p Neal Sako 🏀 11p Neal Sako 🟠 @valenciabasket 73 🔴 @FCBBasketball 65 🏆 J11 @EuroLeague ⌚ 0s 3Q 📺 @movistarplus 🤝 @puleva pic.twitter.com/Y58cHU7Tfj
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