Real Madrid visit the hideout of the European leader

Real Madrid visit the hideout of the European leader

MADRID, 1 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Real Madrid will surely face one of its most demanding exams in this stretch of the season, which is being quite positive for it when it visits Turkish Fenerbahce this Friday (6:45 p.m.), current leader of the 2022-2023 Euroleague Regular Phase.

The Real Madrid team is in an excellent moment after winning its last six games between the top continental competition and the Endesa League, although the streak is better counting only Europe, where it has accumulated five wins in a row since losing at the WiZink Center against Virtus Bologna By the end of october.

The team coached by Chus Mateo has already ranked among the top four, with a record of 7-3, the same as Barça, the Greek Olympiacos and AS Monaco, only surpassed by Fenerbahce, who is also very toned. They have only been beaten once this season in the Euroleague, at the Palau Blaugrana and by one point (81-80).

In this way, at the Ulker Sports and Event Hall in Istanbul, the two teams that seem to be at the best moment and serious candidates to be in the 'Final Four' will face each other, a goal that has eluded them in the last two seasons to the Turk, who could not even be in the 'playoffs' last year.

However, and despite losing two pivotal pieces of their recent successes, such as the Czech center Jan Vesely and the French guard Nando de Colo, Fenerbahce has strengthened itself very well, starting on the bench with the renowned Dimitris Itoudis and continuing with a squad with a lot of quality and that is already giving revenues.

Signings like Scottie Wilbekin, one of the best scorers on the Old Continent, but who will be out due to a knee injury suffered last weekend, Johnathan Motley, Carsen Edwards and ex-Blaugrana Nick Calathes and Nigel Hayes-Davis give him a lot of energy in both sides of the field to a team that also likes to bet on moving the ball well and on collective play, and that also, as Chus Mateo warned, punishes losses, one of the aspects that the madridistas try to correct .

The 2017 European champion averages 86.9 points per game, something similar to that of Real Madrid (84.6), so extra work is assumed for the defenses, especially for the madridista who, despite her improvement, is still it leaves some loophole as could be seen in their last duel against Partizán in which they conceded 40 points in the first quarter.

Itoudis' team has won all five of their home games in this Regular Season and only Valencia Basket came close to surprising them (79-77). The Real Madrid team, still without Guerschon Yabusele, Adam Hanga and Rudy Fernández, will try to be the first to storm a venue where they fell to 51 points on their last visit, supported by the trio made up of Dzanan Musa, Gaby Deck and Walter Tavares.

FENERBAHCE: Calathes, Guduric, Hayes-Davis, Booker and Motley --possible starting five-- Edwards, Jekiri, Mahmutoglu, Birsen, Hazer, Geyik, Akpinar and Biberovic.

REAL MADRID: Williams-Goss, Deck, Musa, Cornelie and Tavares -- possible starting quintet -- Sergio Rodriguez, Abalde, Llull, Hezonja, Poirier, Causeur and Ndiaye.

--REFEREES: Pukl, Belosevic and Kardum.

--PAVIL: Ulker Sports and Event Hall.