Real Madrid – Barcelona

Spanish ACB League Round 3

Madrid, October 1, 18:30 CET

All that the European champions Real Madrid showed during September, in the preparatory period for the start of the ACB League and in its opening two matches - is that they now have an advantage in quality compared to their biggest rivals, Barcelona.

In their direct duel, on September 16 in the Spanish Super Cup match, Real Madrid almost routinely won 90:80, and in the end the difference could have been more convincing against Barcelona. Then there were easy victories in two ACB League matches. Real was particularly impressive in the away match against Manres on Friday (94:88 victory). Previously, Zaragoza was defeated 101:70 in Madrid.

It seems that the return to the club of the famous Argentinian playmaker Campazzo was a perfect move for Real Madrid, which is clearly a better team than the one that won the Euroleague in May and showed exceptional team character. Campazzo, Bosnian guard-forward Musa, Spanish veteran guard Llull - are in exceptional rhythm now, when it comes to attacking play.

On the other hand, Barcelona is struggling at the beginning of the season. Unexpectedly difficult and solely thanks to the inspiration of playmaker Laprovitol, with a bit of luck in the last seconds of the match, Barca won again outsiders Palencia 84:83 away from home on Friday.

At the moment, it seems obvious that the Catalan giant lacks top-class shooters in the team, both at guards and forwards positions. The team has a drastically smaller salary budget than in the past years, and the departure of famous power forward Mirotic to Armani Milano this summer is difficult to compensate.

At the beginning of October, it seems that only playmaker Laprovitola and famous center Hernangomez are ready to play at a high level for Barcelona. That can hardly be enough to threaten Real away to Madrid.

At the end of June, Barcelona managed to win in Madrid 93:82 in a crucial match in the fight for the ACB League title. Then the Real team was significantly weakened, without one of the key players, Argentinian forward Gabriel Deck... Also, the European champions were extremely tired after the Euroleague title fight in May.

In the last seven games of these teams in Madrid, Real has five wins. The hosts are expected to enter the WiZink Center derby with more freshness, to fight in the second half - counting on the fact that the Madrid team has many more options in rotation from the bench.

Overall, the Euroleague champions are expected to decide the winner of this match even before the last minute. The difference in the quality of the biggest Spanish rivals has not been this big in the last half decade, their match in the Super Cup in mid-September showed that... And now it's time for it to get a clear confirmation, in the Spanish championship - ACB League.