Barcelona-Real Madrid: The 34th clasico at Sara’s “home”.

After Paris, London, Milan and Belgrade, the time has come for the Kaunas to host a clasico in a semi-final Euroleague Final Four.

For the second season in a row, Barcelona and Real Madrid (19/5, 9:00 p.m., www.sportfm.gr, News Bulletin 247, Novasports Prime) will fight in a semi-final, against the background of qualifying for the grand final.

Last year, in the capital of Serbia, the “queen” prevailed 86-83 and got the ticket. Meanwhile, the Madrid team it counts a total of three qualifiers against the “eternal rivals” Catalans. The most emphatic was undoubtedly the 100-62 in the 2014 Milan semi-finalwhile a year earlier in London he had won 74-67.

In the first historic clasico in a semi-final Final Four, Barcelona had… smiled, as had won 76-66in 1996 in Paris.

From here on out, this will be it 34th European Clasico in this century, with the “Blaugrana” having a slight lead with 17-16 wins against the “queen”. The semi-final of the Final Four will be their sixth meeting this year. In their first for the 2022/23 season, Real Madrid also won at the same time celebrate cup. In particular, it was in the final of the Spanish Super Cup, where Chus Mateo’s team prevailed in overtime 89-83.

In the four matches that followed in the league and Euroleague, Barcelona scored three wins, against Real Madrid’s just one. The most recent clasico was on April 16 for Liga Endesa, where the Catalans were imposed by an emphatic 97-82in “Palau”.

Regarding their progress in this year’s regular season in the Euroleague, their record was the same, at 23-11. However, his team Sarunas Yasikevicius had the tie and thus finished second, with the “queen” correspondingly third. In the playoffs, Barça clearly had an easier task than the Madrid players. The “blaugrana” faced the Zalgiristo which… they swept 3-0 in summary proceedings to qualify for the Final Four.

On the contrary, Real Madrid gave an epic “battle” with it They were partisans, in the playoffs. A series that contained four breaks, general clashes in Game 2 with “bells” on players on both sides, the serious injury of Gabriel Dec and an impressive conclusion in the fifth and final match in Madrid. There, the entirety of it Chus Mateo came back from the … hell of -18 and with forwards the “old series” Rodriguez, Yul and Rudy prevailed 98-94 of his team Zeljko Obradovic.

Finally, both teams traveled to Kaunas “caught”. Barcelona will certainly not count on his services Corey Higgins, who is also the only one absent. A few days ago, problems plagued the Jan Vesely and Nikola Kalinic, but both are expected to give the “present” normally. Undoubtedly, however, Sarunas Yasikevicius he will have the significant support of his compatriots in the stands, since he is a native of Kaunas.

On the other hand, the competition problems are much bigger for Real Madrid. Chus Mateo will not have his main “4” at his disposal, for different reasons. THE Gabriel Dec was seriously injured in Game 4 against Partizan and misses the season, while o Gerson Giabuseli he’s still suspended for… kicking in Game 2 in Madrid.

Also, the “queen” will not be able to count on one more tall person. THE Vincent Poirier he too has problems and will not offer his services unless unforeseen. So, the biggest burden on the front line will fall on Eddie Tavares. The giant from Cape Verde was pivotal in Real’s qualification over Partizan, having even hit his knee in the series opener and missing the second match as well…

The referees of the match are Sasha Pukl (Slovenia), Emin Mogulkots (Turkey) and Mendy Difala (France).