Youthful Real Madrid arrive in Belgrade ready to maintain their European champion crown. That is what can be made clear after the first game he has played in the group stage, in which has literally passed over Maccabi Tel Aviv (66-93)with a physical superiority, of centimeters, which makes a tremendous difference in these ages. But also with technical and tactical superiority. As that commercial said, ‘Power without control is useless’and this Madrid has power to shovels, but also has the necessary control to consider it a team with capital letters candidate to repeat title.
In the premiere against Maccabi the victory fell under its own weight, at the same rate as the rebounds were falling: 35 for the maccabeans, 52 for the whites. An imbalance that forces the Israeli team to score at first or pray. But against this giant Madrid, prayers are of little use when you fight in the area. The four Madrid interiors completely disarmed their rival. First the two starters, Eli Ndiaye (who has already debuted with the first team and was MVP of the last tournament in 2020) and Ismaila Diagne (the tower of the template with 2.12). Then the two substitutes, Henri Veesaar and Amadou Doumbia. Together they added 53 points, 34 rebounds and 83 rating of the 129 total credits of his team.
On the outside, another stood out who already knows what it’s like to play with the first team. Urban Klavzarwho made his debut by force in that impossible victory the day before Christmas Eve against CSKA in which there were only five players from the first team plus Vukcevic, has once again shown today that he has the makings of a great player. Despite not having the day in the shot, he has shown himself to be a step ahead of almost everyone in intelligence and game reading. Tomorrow at 11:00, live on Euroleague YouTube, second game against a Mega Mozart who plays at home. Second very important step, like all, since only the first of each of the two groups qualifies to play directly the final on Saturday.