The winner of a record 11 EuroLeague titles hit top gear ahead of the competition’s business end
Rampant Real Madrid has Chus Mateo brimming with confidence
Makale
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Regular Season
Round 34 of 34
Group Regular Season
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Real Madrid is heading into the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague postseason galvanized by six successive wins which have catapulted the former champs into the play-in picture, with a chance of squeezing directly into the playoffs if one of Friday’s results goes the Spanish giant’s way.
Real needs either traditional rival FC Barcelona or Anadolu Efes Istanbul to lose their respective fixtures in order to sneak into the top six, but even if that doesn’t happen Real will enter the Play-In Showdown with its tail up after a fine run.
Thursday’s comeback 89-91 win at Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade epitomized Real’s die-hard attitude as the 11-time EuroLeague champion put together a 4-15 run in the home straight to erase an 85-76 deficit inside a packed Belgrade Arena.
The result had head coach Chis Mateo purring with delight at the postgame press conference, as the 56-year-old tactician hailed his team’s resilience. Having guided Real to the championship in 2023 after he took over from the iconic Pablo Laso, Mateo is now hoping that Los Blancos can defy the odds and add another piece of silverware to their trophy cabinet.
“We did a great job to win our last six games and now we’re ready for the postseason,” he said. “We will fight hard to achieve the goal, which is to win one more title.
“We’re playing much better as a team than we did at the star of the season, as changing half the roster requires time and patience for the team to gel. We’re doing a better job at both ends of the court and we’re reaching the desired level. “
Mateo elaborated that Real were ill-prepared for Partizan’s big men knocking down shots from downtown but praised the way his men were able to deal with adversity and claw their way back into the contest when the chips were down.
“Their big guys [Aleksej] Pokusevski and [Brandon] Davies scored six threes between them and that created problems for us. We never lost faith and kept fighting all the way, having been able to get back into the game in the closing stages,” Mateo emphasized.
Partizan and its head coach Zeljko Obradovic now face a tough stretch in the regional ABA League in a bid to secure pole position ahead of the playoffs, having lost six of their last seven EuroLeague games. The home straight meltdown derailed Partizan’s postseason challenge and Obradovic acknowledged that defect by Real pretty much summed up the club’s campaign in Europe’s premier club competition.
“We had a great opportunity to win the game but unfortunately we made some bad decisions on offense down the stretch,” said the winner of a record nine EuroLeague titles with five different clubs.
“It’s the story of the season, as we’ve let a fair few wins slip from our grasp in the closing stages, when we were ahead and appeared to be in control. On the other hand, Real has peaked and I see them as one of the top three contenders to win the title.”