The bad news happens in the center of Madrid’s defense. The club announced this Saturday, five hours before facing Girona (6:30 p.m., DAZN), that Antonio Rüdiger suffers a muscle injury to the vastus lateralis of his left thigh. The first medical estimates point to a loss of regarding two weeks, which would leave him out, in addition to the key league clash this weekend, the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 next Tuesday in Leipzig and Sunday’s visit to Vallecas. On February 25, the white team hosts Sevilla, an event for which, if the forecasts are met, the German might be available.
Against Girona, Ancelotti also does not have Nacho, with an overload, so the Italian faces the match without any pure center back. Alaba and Militão continue recovering from their cruciate tears. If there are no surprises or more last-minute unforeseen events, Tchouameni and Carvajal should be the starting centre-backs once morest Míchel’s team; a pivot and a winger converted into the emergency this season. For Tuesday, Carletto does hope to get Nacho back, as he indicated this Saturday at a press conference.
Everything indicated that Rüdiger, who was out a week ago once morest Atlético due to the blow he suffered once morest Getafe three days before, would return to the eleven once morest Girona. Ancelotti commented in the preview that he had had “good feelings in the game on a reduced field”, in the first training session he had done with the rest of his teammates. He even added that he was a part of the body where there was no risk and everything depended on sensations. However, out of optimism, he scheduled a final test for this Saturday morning, where a muscle injury was finally detected that further exacerbates Madrid’s medical crisis in defense.
The only good news for the whites is the recovery of Vinicius, absent from the derby due to a cervical problem. According to Ancelotti, he is fine to start as a starter.
Real Madrid’s French forward Guerschon Yabusele reacts during the EuroLeague match once morest ASVEL.Marshal (EFE)
There are days in WiZink when Real Madrid cannot find itself, although that does not mean anything, because even on those occasions, Chus Mateo’s team is a steamroller (86-79). He allows, like last night, his rival, in this case Asvel, from the suburbs of Lyon, to get their hopes up and then deploy all their artillery, or part of it, because Tavares is still in the stands. The French team managed to get close to Madrid’s first attempt to break away, but it was enough for Alocén and Rudy to do their best in defense for their team to expand the bandwidth.
There is the white team, like the others, with many consecutive games in their legs, and that shows in the performance, but there is always the quality of the team once morest rivals like the one last night, enthusiastic, but who are maintained precisely thanks to those desire, which sometimes is not enough.
What happened in the first quarter was repeated several times throughout the game. Also following Madrid had to run for a while to put themselves 15 ahead (50-35). The score stretched and shrank because the whites took a break, but Yabusele got off the stationary bike where he relaxed his muscles, or became serious following some laughter with his teammates on the bench, and increased the distance once more. The Frenchman, who did everything, made the difference once morest his compatriots. He scored three, two; also the 11 free throws he attempted. He rebounded, stole and counterpunched to be the best of the game. And when he took a break, Campazzo would appear and mess up; or Sergio Rodríguez took command, with his natural elegance on the court and revolutionized the game. The sometimes anarchic Deck also contributed. This was the case throughout the game, despite the final sloppiness, which allowed the final lead to only be seven points, because Paris Lee insisted that his team also had things to say.
Baskonia, 92 – Maccabi, 82
Baskonia also won in Buesa once morest Maccabi (92-82) following a very competitive match, and in which they appeared with the absences of Chiozza, Costello, Diop and Sedekerskis. But there was Howard, who finished with 26 points, and also Marinkovic (14) and Moneke (15), who beat the rebounding team in the Euroleague. Moneke was imperial in that aspect (15), and Kotsar was not far behind (9). In reality, it was a choral effort that was appreciated by the Buesa Arena stands, who were not sure if his team was going to keep up with so many casualties. But he did it, although Moneke and Kotsar had to play almost 37 minutes each, and Marinkovic, increasingly consolidated, exceeded 29. Baskonia subdued Maccabi, whose average particular, despite the efforts of former Baskonista Baldwin (25 points), who is exposed to a penalty for throwing the ball at one of the referees at the end of the game and then confronting him, despite the efforts of his teammates to get him out of the way .
Alba Berlin, 66 – Valencia Basket, 81
Valencia Basket took a walk through the Alba Berlin field (66-81). Mumbrú’s men did not forgive the red lantern of the regular phase and played one of their most relaxed games in recent weeks. With great work on defense, they held Alba to 15 points in each of the first three quarters, which made it easier for his offensive work to be rewarded. The work of López-Arostegui from Getxo was shining on the court in the decisive moments, such as that of Ojeleye in the shot (18 points).
Real Madrid beat Maccabi (106-101), in a scoring festival, but gave too many opportunities to the Israeli team, who at times thought they might break the resistance for the first time at the WiZink Center, where they remain undefeated in the Euroleague, a fortress that no one has been able to assault.
It seemed like it was a game that, with the fifth gear that the Madrid team usually puts in the minutes in which they need to get stronger, would be enough for everyone to go home calmly following another day at the office. But this time Real did not use super fuel, but normal. Nobody pushed more than necessary, as usually happens. Someone always appears to take responsibility, but it didn’t happen this time.
After a first quarter in which they established differences (29-18), Maccabi never became discouraged, and with the defenses somewhat careless, the scoring skyrocketed. Musa and Poirier were the most successful for Madrid, but for the visiting team, Colson scored 25 points and former Baskonista Baldwin completed a magnificent second half with 28 points. The American, who played anarchically at times, led Maccabi, who in the last 10 minutes chained two sets (0-11 and 0-9) that put his team fully into the game. With 4.45 to go, with a disturbing 100-98, and in the final minute, following a triple by Baldwin, that 104-101 that Madrid had to defend by calling for a timeout. Hezonja scored both free throws following the Maccabees’ desperate foul, and that was the end of an entertaining game, but one that Chus Mateo didn’t like too much. “We have tried to score more than them, but we might have closed earlier, applying ourselves more in defense,” analyzed the coach of the white team.
For its part, Baskonia, who at no point during the game dreamed of catching Bayern Munich, and who only took advantage in the first quarter (10-11), knew how to stay involved in the game, and not give up the effort, until that in the final moments he found a loophole and got in. It was thanks to a triple by Miller-Mcintyre (94-94) with 3.7 seconds left that he put his team in overtime. He then managed to get into the fight and took the lead following a three-pointer from Marinkovic, but even though he did not give up until the last play, the Vitorian team blamed too much the elimination due to fouls by Moneke and Howard in extra time. Despite everything, he came within a three-point shot to force another overtime, but the last forced shot was lost in limbo. Pablo Laso’s team won (112-109).
In Belgrade, Valencia had no chance of beating Red Star, who dominated from start to finish to win the game (82-64). Jones, Inglis and Reuvers, who were the top scorers of the Mumbrú team, were left in the shadow of Nedovic, who with 27 points, and six of seven triples, broke the Valencian defense.
