Barça – Olympiacos: forced to win

Second round to Palau Blaugrana. After losing the first game of the Euroleague quarterfinals Barça gets again Olympiacos in order to settle scores and go to Greece with guarantees (21:00, Vamos). For this reason, the Palau Blaugrana, despite the loss of the court factor, will again have to be the key to leveling the series, as it has been throughout the season.

In the first match, last Wednesday, Roger Grimau’s men were in tow for almost the entire match and were ready to reverse the result in the last moments, but this failed and the Greeks scored their first point in the playoffs. From Barcelona side Jabari Parker And Willie Hernangomez were the top scorers with 13 points each, followed by 11 Alex Abrines10 out Ricky Blonde and 9 of Nico Laprovittola.

Favorable precedents

Thus, Barca will have to reverse this 0-1 scoreline to have a chance of reaching the Final Four in Berlin, and the precedents are at least favorable to Barca’s interests. Only twice have Blaugrana’s team started the first game of a quarter-final with a defeat at home, and both times they have returned to the top four teams in Europe.

The first time was the 2008/09 academic year, against TAU Ceramics, old Baskonia, and the comeback was achieved in the fifth game at the Palau Blaugrana. The 2020/21 campaign took place in the same way, against Zenit St. Petersburgand despite the fact that the Kule temple was empty due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a ticket to the Final Four was obtained in the fifth game after losing the first at home.