The cursed semifinal

Cursed, we say, for the aftermathbecause look that they have tried, but Nothing good has come out of a Barça-Madrid semifinal in the Euroleague until now for Spanish basketball. Understand the categoricalness: we are not talking about the quality of the game or what a duel between the two at the top means, but about the subsequent outcome in the final. The one this Friday in Kaunas (20:00, Dazn) will be the fifth Classic in the penultimate step, because in 65 years of history of European competitions, they have never crossed paths in the last. It could have been, it was close; it didn’t happen. Neither this year.

Of the previous four semifinalsthe first was won by Barça against Laso player (1996) and the next three were taken by Madrid with the coach Laso (2013, 2014 and the one a year ago, 2022). What happened next is European Cup history: Vrankovic’s illegal stopper against Barça’s Montero and, in a Merengue key, the 17 points come back by Spanoulis’ army, the irruption of Macabeo Rice and the victory by one point 12 months ago for Micic and his troops.

The fifth time may be the charm, but the previous revalidation is a Clásico of aúpa, where Barcelona starts as a favorite (also slightly ahead of Olympiacos in the title pools). He comes strong, with confidencewithout Higgins, but with Laprovittola after a step forward from several key players: Satoransky, Vesely… The Czech, by the way, has recovered from low back pain, like Kalinic from a shoulder. The third Final Four followed by culé, the sixth in Mirotic’s career, because the recipe for success in this format exists and has been known for a long time: always come back to keep trying. Without the residue of defeat, there is no glory.

Jasikevicius was calm yesterday, he sees his strong and mentalized, in an ascending line. It will be his Clásico 25 in just three seasons (there is no better button to check that the calendar is saturated), with a fantastic record of 15 wins and 9 losses. That said, Barça’s biggest problem may be Madrid, the one at H hour on D-day, the one with the old guard grown up when the big thing comes along. We saw it against Partizan, they want to repeat now.

“There is no going back, no favorites, no injuries… or anything,” Chus Mateo assured with some emotion in the previous hours. But yes there are, absences, and three very important inside: the suspended Yabusele and the injured Poirier and Deckone of the referents of the squad. Tavares has been left without a replacement against Vesely and Sanli, who will try to punish him from the triple. And in the four Real can find more options (Ndiaye, Randolph and Cornelie, if he enters the call), even punctual ones like Abalde and Rudy, although Hezonja’s performance seems decisive in the face to face with Mirotic if you want to flip the forecasts. Also the irruption of Sergio Rodríguez and Williams-Goss against Satoransky, while Jasikevicius, in addition to attacking Tavares with all his arsenal, will have a plan to control Musa. By the way, will there be a white zone defense…? The home Clásico goes to Europe, and it’s huge there too. Half a degree is worth, the other half depends on a curse that must be brought down.

The Zalgirio Arena is one of the jewels of the Euroleague

The Euroleague closed the regular phase, its 34 days, with an all-time public record: 8,748 spectators on average in the 18 pavilions, with the Stark Arena in Belgrade attracting more people due to its capacity, although none higher in occupancy than the Zalgirio Arena in Kaunas , with 96% of its more than 15,000 seats full during the course. The Lithuanian pavilion, voted by club officials as the best in the competition, is one of the jewels in the Euroleague crown. The enclosure It was inaugurated by the Spanish National Team in August 2011 in a friendly against Lithuania and a few weeks later it hosted the Eurobasket that was the second gold for Spain in the continental event. A year ago a swimming pool was opened in the same complex, which also has a gigantic gym on several floors. In this Final Four the green of Zalgiris will give way to the red of Olympiacos, with more than 4,000 followers confirmed for the moment in the stands. The second number of fans will be Barcelona, ​​with just over a thousand followers. Madrid can be around 350a figure similar to that of Monaco.

THIS IS HOW THEY ARRIVE

barca

real Madrid

TEMPLATES

	pos.	Height	Age
twenty-one Alex Abrines	AND	198	29
22 Cory Higgins	TO	196	33
55 give me sarr	TO	198	16
46 james naji	P	208	19
6 Jan Veseley	P	213	33
24 Kyle Kuric	AND	193	33
23 Mike Toby	P	213	28
twenty Nicholas Laprovittola	B.	188	33
10 Nikola Kalinic	TO	202	31
33 Nikola Mirotic	PA	208	32
3 Oriol Pauli	TO	201	28
1 oscar da silva	TO		24

	pos.	Height	Age
8 Adam Hanga	TO	199	3. 4
6 Alberto Abalde	TO	200	27
3 Anthony Randolph	PA	211	33
12 Carlos Alocen	B.	189	22
31 dzanan muse	TO	206	24
22 Edy Tavares	P	221	31
30 Eli Ndiaye	PA	204	18
1 fabien causeur	TO	195	35
14 Gabriel Deck	TO	200	28
28 Guerschon Yabusele	PA	203	28
7 Hugo Gonzalez	AND		17
eleven Mario Hezonja	TO	198	28