Anadolu and Barça relive the last final on a streak
BARCELONA, 2 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Barça visits Anadolu Efes Istanbul this Friday at the Sinan Erdem Sports Hall, on matchday 13 of the Euroleague Regular Phase, in the reissue of the final of the last season that crowned the Turks and with both teams in full swing of victories that augur another good show.
In that final in Cologne, Anadolu Efes won 81-86 against a Barça that was left at the gates of a dream that it pursues again. Leaders in the current Euroleague, with the same 10 victories as Real Madrid, face an improved Anadolu who fatally opened the competition and is in the middle of a comeback.
Both Barça and Anadolu Efes are on par in that they accumulate four victories in a row before this direct pulse. The Turks hope to continue showing themselves superior to a Barça that, indirectly, seeks revenge for that lost title.
At present, however, the important thing is to defend that first place and once again move an Anadolu away more than due to the quality of the squad and defending the title, it should always be a rival to consider. And even more after beating Fenerbahçe, Monaco, Olympiacos and ALBA Berlin straight away.
Not everything will be the same as in that final at the Lanxess Arena on May 30. This time, the pivot Sertac Sanli is Blaugrana and he will face his former teammates, just like Adrien Moerman, Chris Singleton and Tibor Pleiss will play again against a Barça through which they previously passed.
Unfortunately, point guard Nick Calathes, who was forced to play that final and could not perform at his usual level, and Cory Higgins, will not be on the court to defend Barça’s interests either. On the other hand, center Brandon Davies, absent in the bulky Blaugrana victory against Zalgiris, returns after his permission to play for Uganda.
DATASHEET.
–EQUIPMENT.
ANADOLU EFES ISTANBUL: Beaubois, Micic, Simon, Moerman y Pleiss –posible quinteto inicial–; Larkin, Singleton, Saybir, Bryant, Anderson, Petrusev, Dunston.
BARÇA: Laprovittola, Kuric, Hayes-Davis, Mirotic and Sanli –possible initial quintet–; Martinez, Smits, Orihuela, Jokubaitis, Caicedo, Villar, Davies.
– REFEREES: Lamonica, Belosevic and Difallah.
–PABELLÓN: Sinan Erdem Sports Hall.