‘Co-leaders’ duel between Barça and Olympiacos in Piraeus
BARCELONA, 6 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Barça visits the complicated Olympiacos track this Tuesday (8:00 p.m.) on matchday 27 of the Regular Phase of the Euroleague, in a duel between ‘co-leaders’ of the competition to which the blaugrana arrive in good shape despite the defeat in Zaragoza in Endesa League.
Without looking at the domestic competition, the Blaugrana team has five consecutive victories in the Euroleague and this Tuesday they will put themselves to the test at the Pavilion of Peace and Friendship in Piraeus, against an Olympiacos team that saw its great streak cut short in Milan but that He continues second, with an 18-8 balance identical to that of Barça, third.
Both teams look to the leadership of Real Madrid, with the same victories but with a game pending. And both sets arrive at a good time. The Greeks, who in Milan showed an unknown face this season (83-62), had just linked seven victories and set the pace of the competition.
Barça, now, is the one who has fifth gear on and is looking to put on sixth. A duel in style in Piraeus, where he had spent several seasons in which he did not enjoy his team’s game so much, led by ex-Blaugrana Sasha Vezenkov (18.1 points and 7.4 rebounds on average), in a reunion with a certain morbidity .
“Olympiacos is one of the best teams in Europe. A team that moves the ball and the players at a level that sooner or later you lose. They are the best at this and we will have to have a lot of concentration”, warned the Blaugrana coach, Sarunas Jasikevicius, in the preview of the game.
The blaugranas will have to forget that defeat in Zaragoza to put the chip on the Euroleague and seek to extend that good run, to get ahead of Olympiacos in the table and take revenge on the opening day, with the 70-80 victory in the first round in the Palau Blaugrana. Duel in which Nikola Mirotic was not involved due to injury.
The Spanish-Montenegrin is the leader in scoring, rebounding and the best valued player for a Barça that is growing. The blaugrana will have a difficult week, with this visit to Olympiacos and a duel against Fenerbahçe that will also be worth noting. A double challenge at the highest level that will allow us to know what this Barça can aspire to.
DATASHEET.
–EQUIPMENT.
OLYMPICS: Walkup, Canaan, Papanikolaou, Vezenkov and Fall –possible starting quintet–; Lountzis, Larentzakis, Sloukas, Bolomboy, Peters, Black and McKissic.
BARÇA: Satoransky, Laprovittola, Kalinic, Mirotic and Vesely –possible starting five–; Sanli, Abrines, Higgins, Tobey, Kuric, Jokubaitis and Nnaji.
–REFEREES: Belosevic, Difallah and Petek.
–PABELLÓN: Peace And Friendship Stadium.