Real Madrid reached the 2022 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Championship Game, but it failed to hold on to its lead as Anadolu Efes Istanbul successfully mounted a comeback to become back-to-back European champions. Now, with Pablo Laso no longer in place as head coach after 11 years on the Real bench, Chus Mateo is the man in charge of bringing Los Blancos to the latter stages once again. Ahead of the 2022-23 Regular Season, here are five games for Real fans to circle on their calendars.
Round 2: It's the Clasico!
In just the second week of the season, FC Barcelona will host Real Madrid at Palau Blaugrana. There is always a lot of tension when these two giants meet, and there should be added spice to this Clásico after Real advanced past Barca in the semifinals of last year's Final Four. Curiously, Barca swept Real in the regular season, but that counted for nothing when they met in Belgrade. One new addition to Real this summer is former Barca forward Mario Hezonja, who opted to cross the Clásico divide after an impressive season with UNICS Kazan last year.