Before week three of the EuroLeague takes over the screens from Tuesday right through to Friday with four games on each night, week two will conclude with two heavyweight clashes as well as two intriguing match-ups involving teams looking to bounce back from defeats last week.

There’s no denying that CSKA Moscow and Panathinaikos are the very definition of the EuroLeague. If you’re introducing an NBA basketball fan to the competition for the first time, chances are that they would have heard of these two sides. They have claimed seven EuroLeague titles between them since the tournament began in 2000.

And on Friday, the two teams will meet again for the 28th time in the EuroLeague in the Russian capital.

CSKA Moscow though have a strong advantage on home court, losing just four of the 14 encounters played in Russia with their last loss to the Athens outfit coming in 2010. It certainly doesn’t help Panathinaikos’ cause that Mike James is still out plus their head coach Argyris Pedoulakis resigned on Tuesday evening following the team’s convincing loss to Olympiacos in the Greek League.

But what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, Panathinaikos opened their EuroLeague account with an 84-76 win over a stubborn Zalgiris side and will travel to Moscow with nothing to lose against the reigning EuroLeague champions.

∞∞∞ BARCELONA LOOK TO CONTINUE DOMINANCE OVER FENERBAHCE ∞∞∞

Past Barcelona vs Fenerbahce fixtures have both surprised us and excited us. And on Friday, both teams will meet with the Catalan side looking to continue their impressive home form against last season’s runners-up.

Barcelona have an 8-2 record inside the Palau Blauguana but the last time the two sides met in Spain, Fenerbahce recorded a narrow 91-89 victory, thanks to Nemanja Bjelica’s last-gasp effort after overtime with Bogdan Bogdanovic coming up as the hero with 23 points in the win.

That was only Fenerbahce’s fourth win over Barcelona in twenty attempts and they are a much changed team since that night in Barcelona in December 2014.

They arguably have a deeper, more experienced roster with Pero Antic, Bobby Dixon, Jan Vesely on the team, as well as Bogdanovic and have the Final Four pedigree with them. They will certainly be a much more different opposition for Barca.

However, Barcelona are another of the EuroLeague’s more stable tenants. Tyrese Rice and Justin Doellman amongst others at the helm, capable of doing damage, they shall not be underestimated. They do however have injuries heading into Friday’s clash. The EuroLeague’s all-time leading scorer, Juan Carlos Navarro is out along with Petteri Koponen, with the latter only being cleared to compete in full contact basketball activities this week.

“Barcelona is always one of the top teams in Europe and they play great at home,” said Fenerbahce’s Kostas Sloukas. Everybody knows they have some injury problems now, but they are a great team and they surely want to win also. From our side it’s very important that we give everything we’ve got in order to add a new win to our column.”

∞∞∞ OTHER GAMES ∞∞∞

Galatasaray and Crvena Zvezda look to get off the board at the second time of asking when the two sides lock horns in Istanbul.

The Serbians led for the majority at home to Darussafaka Dogus but ultimately lost 73-70 in a heartbreaker, while Galatasaray were thrashed by champions CSKA Moscow 109-84 in their opener.

And two teams with contrasting results last week will meet in Kaunas as Zalgiris face off against Baskonia.

Zalgiris played with great enthusiasm but came up just short against Panathinaikos while Baskonia began their EuroLeague campaign with a narrow 85-84 win over Anadolu Efes with Andrea Bargnani coming up with 26 points for the victors

“It is the first time that we have a stretch of tough games on the road and it is going to be tough, for sure,” Bargnani said about the trip. “Everybody prepares the games really hard and I am looking forward to every single game.”