Merengue victory (69-80) without scares in Berlin, a few days before facing a new league Classic
MADRID, 26 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Real Madrid won this Thursday 69-80 on their visit to ALBA Berlin during matchday 18 of the regular league in the Euroleague, the last continental event for the meringues before the end of 2024 and which has served the Spanish point guard Sergio Llull to break another record, already becoming the player with the most games played in this tournament.
Two and a bit minutes before closing the opening quarter, Llull jumped onto the Uber Arena court and equaled the 425 matches that Kyle Hines had reached in his day. In addition, the point guard from Mahón propelled the white team by scoring a triple on his first shot and making it 13-23 on the scoreboard.
Until the emergence of the ‘Incredible’, Dzanan Musa had monopolized the limelight of the visiting attack. Not in vain, 10 of Real Madrid’s first 13 points had come from the Bosnian forward, with a repertoire of drives to the rim, triples and layups. Together with the game direction of Facu Campazzo and the counterattacks of Mario Hezonja, the gap grew.
To make matters worse, Llull was inspired and almost at the buzzer he hit another triple that closed the first quarter at 15-28. The next period began with a similar dynamic, including two new triples from Llull along with another from Hugo González, increasing the Merengue advantage to 21-38 and leaving ALBA on the ropes too soon.
However, Israel González’s men got into the fight shortly before half-time, thanks above all to the contribution of Matteo Spagnolo from the light bulb and David McCormack in the low post. An 8-0 partial score until halftime (34-45) mitigated the feeling of inferiority in the Berlin team, who returned well from their locker room.
A quick three-pointer by Tim Schneider showed this, but Gaby Deck and Walter Tavares began to carburete themselves among the Madrid ranks to keep calm in a third period where ALBA showed poor accuracy from beyond the arc. At least Yanni Wetzell did convert free throws, leaving the home team’s distance at -10 (51-61).
Gradually, ALBA had gotten closer (55-64) until it set off some alarm on Chus Mateo’s bench, who turned to Llull again and awarded honors in the inside game to Usman Garuba ahead of Serge Ibaka to dose an ‘Edy’ Tavares who is irregular in offensive tasks, but equally intimidating in defense.
At 7:04 to conclude the duel, Garuba left the court so that the Real Madrid doctors could stop the bleeding in his face after an involuntary elbow from McCormack. The action ended as a normal foul by the center recently signed by an ALBA that had few other arguments in its attempt to come back, apart from some attempts by Malte Delow.
Without scares, the merengue team pushed back to ensure a calm ending and Hezonja was encouraged with more baskets, including a dunk facing the gallery, sealing the visitor’s victory. Real Madrid thus ended up with a balance of 9-9, close to the ‘play-in’ zone; For its part, the German team remains at the bottom with a record of 3-15.
TECHNICAL SHEET.
–RESULT: ALBA BERLIN, 69 – REAL MADRID, 80 (34-45, at halftime).
–TEAMS:
ALBA BERLIN: Hermannsson (8), Thomas (7), Delow (13), Schneider (5) y McCormack (15) –inicial quintet–; Spagnolo (10), Olinde (4), Wetzell (7), Mattisseck (-), Samar (-) y Rapieque (-).
REAL MADRID: Campazzo (9), Deck (6), Musa (10), Abalde (2) and Tavares (9) –starting quintet–; Hezonja (18), Llull (20), González (4), Feliz (2) and Garuba (-).
–PARTIALS: 15-28, 19-17, 17-16 and 18-19.
–REFEREES: Belosevic, Ryzhyk and Trawicki. No eliminated.
–PAVILLION: Uber Arena, 9,765 spectators.