Panathinaikos hosts Olympiacos on Friday night as round eight of the EuroLeague features one of Europe’s most historic rivalries between two of the most successful basketball teams on earth.
Between them, the two sides have a massive 86 championships in all competitions between them, they have a combined eight EuroLeague crowns to their name and this season, both own 4-3 records, good enough for mid-table in the early going.
But since the start of the EuroLeague in 2000, the two Athens neighbours have played each other five times with Panathinaikos holding a slight 3-2 advantage, including a perfect 2-0 record at Friday’s venue, the OAKA.
“It’s a special game, just like each derby between our two teams,” Panathinaikos’ Antonis Fotis said. “We play at home and we want to do everything we can to be able to get the win. The will surely be the combination of offence and defence.
“When you play a team like Olympiacos, you cannot be good at one or two areas. You have to be good in all segments, and we must do everything we can to give our strong showing.
Over in Spain, Barcelona host Real Madrid as the Catalan side look to bounce back from their disappointment against Olympiacos and climb up the EuroLeague table.
Barcelona now owns the EuroLeague’s top defence, giving up just 71.4 points on average to opponents, and it will be needed against a Real Madrid team that ranks first in performance index rating (102 per game) and third in scoring (89.6 ppg.)
“What’s most important is that everyone is prepared for what awaits us there, an atmosphere strongly in favour of their team,” said Real Madrid coach Pablo Laso.
“If we let them get into their game rhythm and their fans support them, or if we have trouble starting the game, as we did when we played them in our last Spanish League game, we’ll have it tough.”
∞∞∞ CHAMPS LOOK TO GET BACK TO WINNING WAYS ∞∞∞
After Wednesday night’s loss to Darussafaka Dogus, EuroLeague champions CSKA Moscow look to get back to winning ways when they face Zalgiris, who are currently in the bottom three at 2-5.
After going 6-0 before the loss in Istanbul, CSKA were looking unstoppable but instead of talking about their dominance, the question that will be asked is how will the Muscovites react after their first loss of the season?
The history between the two sides is very one-sided with CSKA posing a 16-0 record against the Lithuanian champions with Nando De Colo exploding for 26 points on just 11 shots in a 100-86 win when the teams met last season.
∞∞∞ SECOND ISTANBUL DERBY IN 24 HOURS ∞∞∞
Two Istanbul-based sides at opposite ends of the EuroLeague table square-off on Friday when basement side Galatasaray face joint second Darussafaka Dogus.
This will mark the first meeting between the two sides in the EuroLeague. Darussafaka will be heavily favoured for the game but after ending CSKA Moscow’s unbeaten start, will they continue in the same vein, or that result end up getting the better of them?
