A win was required and that is what Chus Mateo’s men got
Real Madrid did what it needed to do in Bologna
Article
3 Mins read
Regular Season
Round 29 of 34
Group Regular Season
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Few teams in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague have been as Jekyll and Hyde as Real Madrid this season.
At WiZink Center, the 11-time champion has gone 10-4, which is the joint third-best record in the competition. It has been a different story away from the Spanish capital, however.
Entering Round 29, Real Madrid was 3-10 on its travels; only Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz, Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv and ALBA Berlin had won fewer games on the road, each with two apiece.
The result? Los Blancos languishing down in 12th place, with coach Chus Mateo knowing that his team needed to get some more wins on the board, and fast.
On Thursday night they did just that by beating Virtus Segafredo Bologna 67-80 on the road, a result that moved them up to 11th, one place outside the play-in spots. Real Madrid was up by as many as 22 points in the third quarter and despite a late rally by the hosts, Virtus could never trim the gap to single digits.
“We knew that it’s not going to be easy [to beat Virtus], but at the end of the day we’re Real Madrid and we’ll try to win every game possible,” Dzanan Musa told EuroLeague TV in his postgame comments. “Now we’ll try to fight first to get to the play-in and why not the playoffs directly.”
The standings are so tight that lots could change between now and the end of the regular season, with one win separating Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade in sixth spot – the last place that guarantees direct access to the playoffs – and Real Madrid in 11th, so there is plenty of reason for Los Blancos to remain optimistic.
Real Madrid’s next game is against struggling LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne, but then it finishes the season with four games against teams fighting to reach the playoffs: EA7 Emporio Armani Milan, Crvena Zvezda, Paris Basketball, and Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade. Notably, the two fixtures against the Belgrade clubs take place in Serbia, which given the team’s road record could be cause for concern.
“We have five finals ahead, so we’ve got to be quiet, keep working and think about the next game,” Facundo Campazzo stated after the Virtus win.
But as Musa said best, Real Madrid is Real Madrid, so write them off at your peril. One thing is for certain: it is going to be a fascinating finish to the regular season for Coach Mateo’s squad.