There will be Classic. Again. It will be a new chapter of an eternal rivalry, the one in which the two best teams in the history of Spanish basketball play in a sustained and permanent way. In a historic comeback, both in the fifth game and in the entire tie, Real Madrid eliminated Partizán after starting the series losing 0-2, something that had never happened in the Euroleague. Barça had it easier: they eliminated Zalgiris on the fast track, in three games. That will be, of course, one of the many determining factors in a new duel in the firmament, a Clásico that will make sparks fly. The break in the tight schedule, as well as the talent of the players, the decision-making or the blackboards of Chus Mateo and Sarunas Jasikevicius will tip the balance towards one side or the other. All this and much more in another life-or-death encounter that could be, like all those that face these two teams, epic.
The Whites, who have passed the herculean test of Partizan, the best team of the last two months in the Euroleague, start with a bit of a disadvantage in terms of favoritism… but they have a history that is favorable to them, the next one may not be minor. In this 21st century, Real Madrid and Barcelona have met three times at this point in the course and the result is 100% favorable for Real… although in no case did it bring them luck in the final. In 2013, in London, he won 67-74 and Olympiacos was the executioner of him two days later; in 2014, in Milan, they won by a resounding 62-100 and then fell against Maccabi Tel Aviv; and in 2022, in Belgrade, the result was 83-86. Anadolu Efes, which hasn’t even reached the playoffs this year, took victory in the title match. With Vasilije Micic and Shane Larkin, of course, great heroes.
The confrontation will take place at the Zalgirio Arena in Kaunas (Lithuania) on Friday, May 19, at 8:00 p.m. It will be the second semifinal (the first is at 5:00 p.m.). There, two teams with pending accounts will face each other. They have met five times this season, with three victories for Barça: the initial match of the Super Cup was won by the whites, who then lost in their first match in the Euroleague and in the two they have played in the CBA. The second assault in the maximum continental competition was for the whites, who are third in the Endesa League (25-6) after Baskonia… and Barcelona itself, which leads it. Both, from Vitoria and Catalans, with a 26-5. Apart from the Super Cup, neither those of Mateo nor those of Saras have raised any title this coursesince in the Copa del Rey they said goodbye before their time: the azulgranas against Unicaja in the quarterfinals and Real Madrid against the same rival in the semifinals, avoiding the Malagans a new Clásico that never happened.
