Two of last season's Final Four teams come face to face in Round 1, as FC Barcelona welcomes Olympiacos Piraeus at Palau Blaugrana. Barca retooled its roster over the summer by signing Tomas Satoransky, Jan Vesely, the 2015 EuroLeague MVP, and Nikola Kalinic as it attempts to reach the Final Four for the third year in succession. Olympiacos aims to follow up last season's Final Four appearance – its first since 2017 – with another deep run after having added Isaiah Canaan, Joel Bolomboy and Alec Peters to a rock-solid core of players.
Barcelona vs. Olympiacos: Starting the season with a bang
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This matchup is always a special occasion for Olympiacos head coach Georgios Bartzokas and All-EuroLeague forward Sasha Vezenkov, as they were together at Barca in the past. Kostas Papanikolaou, the Reds' new team captain, also wore Barca's jersey in the 2013-14 campaign. Barca has the historical head-to-head advantage over Olympiacos, having won 22 of their 36 meetings, including the 2010 EuroLeague Championship Game. However, Olympiacos was able to lift the first of its three EuroLeague titles in 1997 by downing Barca 73-58 in the championship game.