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A look back: 'El Clásico'

A look back: 'El Clásico'

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26 janvier 20234 Minute de lecture

Javier Gancedo

It is always exciting to see Real Madrid and FC Barcelona share a basketball court. When the teams are part of a four-way for first place in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season, El Clasico becomes even more exciting. Real and Barca have faced each other hundreds of times and their Round 21 showdown will be their 38th meeting in European competitions.

The two teams are guaranteed to face each other at least four times during the season, but as successful powers in Spain, that number increases often. The maximum number of Clasicos in one season is 16 if both teams face each other in the Spanish SuperCup, the Spanish Copa del Rey and in both the EuroLeague and the Spanish League playoffs.

Real and Barca are battling for first place and the tie-break advantage should be critical in this game. In Round 2, Barca edged Real 75-73 behind 14 points from Sertac Sanli. Jan Vesely added 13 and Tomas Satoransky 12. Gabriel Deck led all scorers with 21 points for Real. There are some differences this time around. Barca superstar and reigning EuroLeague MVP Nikola Mirotic is available this time, as well as sharpshooter Kyle Kuric. Real has Rudy Fernandez and Adam Hanga available, too.

Hanga and Mirotic are two of the nine players who have worn both teams' jerseys in the EuroLeague this century. Nico Laprovittola played for Real before joining Barca, and Mario Hezonja went the opposite direction. Hezonja played for Barca as a teenager and joined Real last summer. The list also includes Alain Digbeu, Thomas Heurtel, Maciej Lampe, Pepe Sanchez and Ante Tomic. None of these players won the EuroLeague with either Real or Barca: Sanchez is the only EuroLeague champion on this list; he lifted the trophy with Panathinaikos Athens in 2002. Ioannis Bourousis won the EuroLeague with Real in 2015 and briefly played for Barca in 2006, but not in the EuroLeague.

If you go back to the 20th century, however, the list gets longer. Current Euroleague Basketball president Dejan Bodiroga won the Saporta Cup with Real in 1997 and one of his three EuroLeague titles with Barca in 2003. The list of players who wore both jerseys features two more continental champs, Sasa Djordjevic and Zoran Savic, and is completed by Piculin Ortiz, Jose Luis Galilea, Derrick Alston and Michael Hawkins.

Real and Barca have never faced each other in a continental final, football or basketball. When it comes to the EuroLeague Final Four, they have clashed on four occasions, all in the semifinals. In 1996, Barca topped Real 76-66 behind 24 points from Arturas Karnisovas and 22 from Dan Godfread. Joe Arlauckas had 22 points to lead Real.

They had to wait until 2013 to meet again in the Final Four. Real rallied to beat Barca 67-74 behind 17 points from Felipe Reyes and 13 from Sergio Llull. A year later, in 2014, Real overwhelmed Barca 62-100 to reach the Championship Game. Sergio Rodriguez led Los Blancos with 21 points off the bench.

Last season, Real and Barca met again in the semifinals. Los Blancos recorded an 83-86 victory with 18 points each from Fabien Causeur and Guerschon Yabusele. Mirotic led Barca with 26 points, 12 rebounds and 5 assists, matching a career-high with a PIR of 39.

Remarkably, each time these teams have met in the EuroLeague semifinals, the winner lost in the championship game. Barca lost against Panathinaikos in 1996, and Real could not beat Olympiacos Piraeus in 2013, Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2014 or Anadolu Efes Istanbul in 2022.

Generally speaking, each Clasico is tougher and more important than the previous one and that is certainly the case this time as a win may have a big impact on the regular season standings. With so much talent on both sides of the court and so many games played between both teams, El Clasico is always unpredictable. So sit back, relax and enjoy one of the greatest spectacles in sports.