FC Barcelona or Olimpia Milano?

The second semifinals of the Euroleague will oppose the title contender FC Barcelona and the revelation of the season, Armani Milano. Let’s start with the Italian team. They are back after 29 years to the Final 4 and they had a great season so far. The bench is deep, a great coach that is a multiple Euroleague winner and some of his players have a lot of experience at this level. Luigi Datome, Vladimir Micov, Kevin Punter, Malcolm Delaney, Sergio Rodriguez and Kyle Hines are players with experience at final tournaments.

The only problem for Olimpia Milano is they will meet Barca, the team that smashed them 2 times this season, with the same clear margin of 16 points.

FC Barcelona is having the first chance to advance to the Finals because their roster is more complete. With the addition of Pau Gasol, Barca doesn’t need anything more. They have now a top rotation on each position and experienced players. Even more, the Catalan team has a hunger to win titles, since their last Euroleague trophy was captured in 2010.

Barca wasn’t able to reach the Final 4 in the last years and they have missed also the playoffs sometimes. Now is their moment. They made huge investments, building a fantastic team, won the regular season and so on. I think only Anadolu Efes can cause them some problems, but Olimpia Milano or CSKA not.

I expect an FC Barcelona victory by at least 5 points.

Image: EuroLeague