The Olympiacos forward bagged 25 points, having gone 10-for-12 from the field
Unstoppable Sasha Vezenkov downs Bayern in first home victory of 2026
Game Report
3 Mins read
Regular Season
Round 21 of 38
Regular Season
Olympiacos PiraeusOLY
9580
FC Bayern MunichBAY
Overview
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Halfway through the first quarter against FC Bayern Munich, Sasha Vezenkov had yet to connect with the basket as a slow start saw the Olympiacos Piraeus forward miss both his first shots of the game.
The second was a floater that went short, with the guests leading 8-9. Yet, that would also be the last one he would fail to make on an extraordinary night at Peace and Friendship Stadium.
Vezenkov went on to score all his next 10 field-goal attempts, finishing the game on a team-high 25 points.
Having given Bayern nightmares again almost one year after netting a career-high 45 points in a 112-69 thrashing, Vezenkov led his team to a 95-80 victory – its ninth straight at home against the German giant.
Two straight victories under new head coach Svetislav Pesic helped Bayern enter the game with confidence, and it started strong in Piraeus by netting 47 first-half points as Olympiacos led by just two points at halftime.
After ending the first half on a game-high 14 points, Vezenkov caught fire with seven points in a space of three minutes in the third quarter to open a 65-54 lead. Yet, Bayern fought back and went on a 2-9 surge that brought them within 85-78 with 02:22 left on the clock.
Vezenkov came in to replace Alec Peters, with the former finishing inside after a dish from Kostas Papanikolaou to open a 10-2 run as Olympiacos killed the game off. Averaging 19.6 points over his last eight games, the Bulgaria international is pulling off another MVP-caliber season.
“We had three very demanding games on the road, we managed to win the two of them and we came back at home after so long and we had a must-win game in front of us,” Vezenkov told EuroLeague TV. “Bayern changed their coach, they had two wins in a row. We didn’t approach the game as we wanted in the first half. We received 47 points, but at the end of the day we took the W and we look forward.”
The turning point came in the third quarter, with Olympiacos holding Bayern to just 14 points and opening a 70-61 lead heading into the fourth.
The hosts forced their opponent to commit as many as 21 turnovers, and the 10 steals they recorded allowed them to hit in transition with easy buckets. They also dominated the boards by outrebounding Bayern 35-23, with their 14 offensive rebounds leading to 29 second-chance points. Meanwhile, staying true to its philosophy, Olympiacos circulated the ball well in yet another game, ending the duel with 28 assists.
“It was very important for us to win this game,” head coach Georgios Bartzokas said in the post-game press conference. “And as you probably saw it wasn’t easy at all. We had to increase our intensity on defense in the second half because in the first we allowed 78% for twos and 46% for threes. There is no team in the EuroLeague without talent, without a game plan, without good coaching. The second half was way better for us defensively. We had lots of deflections, we forced them to make 21 turnovers and at the same time we had 28 assists.”
Having celebrated its first home victory of 2026, eighth-placed Olympiacos will look to go on a winning streak that would allow it to climb up the standings in pursuit of home-court advantage. And with Vezenkov being in such spectacular form, the Reds should have nothing to fear moving forward.
