Four months and three Clásicos after the start of the 2022-23 academic year, Real Madrid and Barça meet again (tomorrow, 7:00 p.m. at the WiZink Center) in a match marked by equality. Equality in the Endesa League (both are first and second, with 14 wins and 3 losses), but also in the Euroleague, where they share the lead with Olympiacos and Fenerbahçe, the four with a balance of 13 wins in 20 games. It is true that, since the Euroleague expanded its competition to 18 teams in 2019, a leader had never lost so many games at this point, but the season is marked by that equality that will turn the fight for playoff (and for securing home court advantage in the playoffs leading up to the Final Four) in the battle of battles.
Barça arrives at this new Clásico with the boost given by the last two wins against their eternal rival. The arrival of Jasikevicius in the summer of 2020 turned the balance in Madrid-Barça, which the white entity had dominated. Since the signing of the Lithuanian, 14-8 in favor of the Barça team that, yes, before the European duel at the Palau on October 13 (75-73 win) they had lost four of the last five games they had played against Real Madridd, all of them already with Chus Mateo on the bench: three were in the tie for the Endesa League title and the other, in the Super Cup final in Seville.
But there is not only great equality between Madrid and Barça this season, but also throughout the Euroleague in general, and not only because four teams share the lead after having played more than half of the competition. In these 20 days 180 games have already been played and 66.1% of them (119) have been resolved by a difference of ten points or less. In 38.3% (69), there was a margin of five or fewer goals and in 21.7% (39), at most, three. In other seasons, the close win ratio was much lower. In 2019-20, for example, 54.4% (98) of the matches were decided by a maximum of ten points; 26.7% (48) for five and 16.1% (29) for three.
Leader and bottom. Equality reigns throughout the classification, because it has never been so close. From beginning to end. The difference between the four leaders and the 13th (Virtus Bologna) is only four wins. Zalgiris and AS Monaco, fifth and sixth, only have 5% less victories than the leaders while Baskonia and Maccabi, who close the positions of playoffThey have 10%. Looking at the bottom of the table, the difference with the bottom two (Alba Berlin and Armani Milan) is 35%. In other seasons, it always exceeded 50% and used to be around 60%. With 14 days still to play, anything can happen, but in the meantime, let’s enjoy a new Clásico. This time marked by maximum equality.