Real Madrid – Armani Milano

Euroleague Round 4

Madrid, October 19, 20:45 CET

In the last 23 games played as a host, the currently best team in Europe, Real Madrid, scored at least 79 points each time, and even 21 times at least 82 points.

Even better - in Madrid, the powerful team of Euroleague champions has scored at least 86 points in every match since the start of the new season. There is a great chance that it will be the same on Thursday, against the Italian champions Armani Milano.

Behind Real, another excellent game was played on Tuesday, against Lithuanian giants Zalgiris (93:79). On the other hand, Armani is still searching for form and struggling in attack. This team lost the last two away games, in both of which they did not impress. Especially in the duel with Basket Napoli, a 77:68 defeat in the duel played on October 8.

Real Madrid has an excellent chance to reach the fourth victory in the Euroleague new season, and the European champions traditionally play well against the Milan team. In H2H duels Spanish giants have four wins in a row. In mid-March of this year, Real won at home against these rivals 91:87. Before that, in Madrid in March 2022, it was 92:88 for the hosts. The impression is that, even when not in ideal shape, the Madrid team knows how to speed up the game against this excellent and defensively oriented opponent.

Armani had problems in the game in the attack in the previous weeks, an example is, for example, the defeat 78:73 against the biggest rival Virtus Bologna in the Italian Super Cup game (September 23). This team has lost four games since mid-September, so Real Madrid is rightfully the clear favorite in the fight for triumph.

The home team counts on all important players healthy, and especially powerful Real works on center positions (recovered Walter Tavares, but also the improving young Yabusele and Frenchman Poirier) - as well as with playmaker options (fantastic and energetic Argentinian Campazzo, Spanish veterans Rodriguez and Llull). Forwards Hezonja, Musa and Deck are excellent options in the attack, so it is certain that the home team will easily pass the quota of 80 points in this game.

In the loss to Fenerbahce 85:82 last week in the Euroleague, Armani led famous power forward Mirotic with 27 points and 11 rebounds. However, the impression is that the game of the Italian team depends too much on Mirotic, and the excellent athletes in the Real team will know how to use it for a good defense.

It is difficult to predict, by what margin the European champions could win this match - but it is easy to expect a large number of points from the home team in this duel. Armani will have to accept a faster pace of play during most of the game, which does not suit the Italian representatives at all. But, they can at least somewhat match a powerful opponent, with exceptional shooters such as Shields, Voigtmann and of course Mirotic.