In their clashes since 2000, Real Madrid holds a 22-11 edge over Panathinaikos and had won 13 in a row before their last meeting in Athens.
In that last meeting, Panathinaikos edged Real 87-86 in Round 33 last season behind a career-high 18 points and 5 blocks from Georgios Papagiannis, who also had 10 rebounds. Real had won 88-65 earlier that season in Round 4 as Walter Tavares scored 17 points.
Despite sharing seven EuroLeague titles this century and 16 in total, these teams have never met in a Final Four. In their two playoff series since 2000, Real won 3-1 in 2018 en route to the title and 3-0 in 2019.
During the 2020-21 season, Real pulled out a 93-97 double-overtime win in Athens. Walter Tavares played a career-high 41 minutes and set a personal best with a performance index rating of 36 after combining 20 points and 14 rebounds to lead the winners. He won the weekly MVP award with that effort.
During its five-game-winning streak in Athens which ended last spring, Real had a pair of 82-89 playoff wins, in Game 2 of the 2018 playoffs and Game 3 in 2019. It also included a Round 29 win from the 2018-19 season when Real rallied from 18 points down to win 73-74 on a buzzer-beating three-pointer from Rudy Fernandez.
Real and Panathinaikos faced off in the EuroLeague Playoffs in both 2018 and 2019. In the 2018 playoffs, the Greens started rolling in Game 1 with a 95-67 triumph, but it was all Real from there to take the series 3-1 en route to the title in Belgrade.
Real swept Panathinaikos in their best-of-five series during the 2019 EuroLeague Playoffs.