Can Virtus Bologna beat Real Madrid twice this season?
The 30th round of the Euroleague brings us Friday, March 24 a duel between Bologna and Real Madrid, both teams still having a goal to reach.
The Italians occupy 12th place, 13-16 they are 2 wins below the 8th playoff place. Although they had good chances to finish in the top 8 teams, in the last 4 rounds they managed a single victory with Alba Berlin and 3 defeats against Monaco, Partizan and Fenerbahce. Although with a lot of team problems, Virtus managed a morale victory against Milan in the championship last weekend. Milos Teodosic will also miss the match against Real Madrid, Semi Ojeleye, Alessandro, Pajola Isaia Cordinier and Gora Camara are also injured, they will try to recover them. In the absence of Teodosic 10.3 points and Ejeleye 9.3 points, Virtus will rely on Shengelia 9.9 points, Lundberg 9 points and Bellinelli 8.5 points.
Real still hopes to finish in 1st place, only one victory separates them from Olympiakos. They have 2 defeats in the last 3 matches, one in the Euroleague at Efes 90-89 and another last weekend at home with Baskonia 95-88, in a game where Deck had 21 points, Musa 15 points and Tavares 12 points, 10 recoveries. Lull is still missing, but the roster is both numerous and valuable to make up for this absence. The team leaders in this Euroleague season are Dzanan Musa 15.5 points, Gabriel Deck 12.3 points, 5.2 rebounds and Walter Tavares 11.1 points, 6.8 rebounds. Dzanan Musa has been named MVP of EuroLeague round 29 with 27 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and drawing 10 fouls.
The match in Madrid was won by Virtus 95-91, with 5 players with over 10 points for the Italians: Lundberg 18, Bako 16, Teodosic 14, Cordinier 12 and Jaiteh 12. For Real Deck made a sensational match with 28 points, Hezonja 18 points and Tavares 13 points, and 10 rebounds.
It will be a match in which the Italians try to maintain their chances of qualifying and the Spanish try to take advantage of Virtus’ absence and get revenge for the first match.
Valentin Petruta
Photo credit: EuroLeague
