One of the most anticipated showdowns so far in the Euroleague season takes place on Thursday when a fully-reloaded Real Madrid hosts defending champion Panathinaikos in the Spanish capital in a direct fight for the top spot in Group D.

Panathinaikos is the only undefeated team in this group with Madrid right behind at 1-1. Above all, it is showdown between two of the best coaches in the game, Ettore Messina of Real Madrid and Zeljko Obradovic of Panathinaikos. These coaches have faced each other in two of the last three Euroleague finals. It is a special game for Obradovic, who led Madrid to its eighth - and most recent - Euroleague title back in 1995. Messina and Obradovic combine for 11 Euroleague titles with six different teams - which says it all about the coaching level in this game.

	W	L	PF	PA
Panathinaikos	2	0	176	133
Real Madrid	1	1	175	156
AJ Milano	1	1	146	145
Oldenburg	1	1	157	160
Khimki Moscow	1	1	150	182
Asseco Prokom	0	2	153	181

Both teams enter this game with many key absences. Madrid is still without big men Felipe Reyes and Thomas Van den Spiegel. Meanwhile, Panathinaikos will be once again missing Kostas Tsartsaris, Sarunas Jasikevicius and Mike Batiste. Without Reyes and Van den Spiegel, Darjus Lavrinovic, who leads the Euroleague in index ranking (40 per game), is set to have a key role in this game. His matchup against Nikola Pekovic may well become the biggest key to this game. Novica Velickovic and Jorge Garbajosa are ready to open the guests' defense with their outside shots.

Garbajosa has a very interesting matchup against former Madrid forward Antonis Fotsis, with center Giorgi Shermadini and versatile forward Jurica Golemac coming off the bench for the Greens. The point guard battle will be just as interesting, as two of the best floor generals in Europe - Pablo Prigioni of Real Madrid and Dimitris Diamantidis of Panathinaikos - are set to face off. Messina can use Sergio Llull to change the game rhythm. Obradovic has more options in a more flexible offense, using Nick Calathes or even Vassilis Spanoulis at point guard. Madrid has its own battery of experienced players on the wings with Rimas Kaukenas, Travis Hansen, Louis Bullock and Sergi Vidal, who is ready for a critical matchup against Spanoulis.

Bullock enters a shooting showdown against former Alphonso Ford Trophy winner Drew Nicholas, Kaukenas has a tough matchup against athletic forward Stratos Perperoglou, and Hansen will test his all-around skills against Milenko Tepic. Above all, the stage belongs to two coaching geniuses that know each other very well and are ready for yet another top-level battle where the sure winners are the fans watching basketball at its best.

PLAYER	PTS	REB	PIR
Darjus Lavrinovic (Real Madrid)	25,5	8	40
Kristof Lavrinovic (Montepaschi Siena)	26	4	34
Tiago Splitter (Caja Laboral)	21,5	8	31,50
Curtis Borchardt (Asvel Basket)	20	7	28
Quyntel Woods (Asseco Prokom)	22,5	10	24