Barça-Real Madrid: the league final gets underway
Our team will be looking for the first point of the series at the Palau Blaugrana to defend last year's title (9:00pm CEST).
Real Madrid kick off the Endesa League final against Barça tonight at the Palau Blaugrana. One year later, the two teams will meet again in the play-offs for the title for the eighteenth time in the ACB era. Chus Mateo's team will try to finish off a great season with three titles and win their 37th league title. They will have to overcome one last challenge: to beat Los Azulgranas with home-court advantage, as they did in 2022.
For the madridistas it will be their eleventh final in the last 12 seasons, with the only absence being the year of the pandemic. Since 2011 we have lifted the trophy on six occasions. The most recent being last season against Barça 1-3. The same situation repeats itself and in this first round the team will try to snatch home-court advantage as they did a year ago, when they won the opening game away and then the third and fourth at the WiZink Center. In the ACB era, we have met 17 times in the final, with a favourable balance of ten titles to seven.
For the madridistas it will be their eleventh final in the last 12 seasons, with the only absence being the year of the pandemic. Since 2011 we have lifted the trophy on six occasions. The most recent being last season against Barça 1-3. The same situation repeats itself and in this first round the team will try to snatch home-court advantage as they did a year ago, when they won the opening game away and then the third and fourth at the WiZink Center. In the ACB era, we have met 17 times in the final, with a favourable balance of ten titles to seven.
There are few secrets between two teams who have played six Clasicos this season and who will go to at least nine. The parity is absolute. Three wins per side. But the most important ones have fallen on the Madrid side, as in the Supercopa final 89-83 and in the Euroleague semi-finals 66-78 in the most recent precedent. The third was on matchday 21 of the top European competition 91-86. For their part, Barça have two wins in the league and another in the Euroleague.
Parallel paths
Real Madrid and Barça have had similar paths to reach the league final. In the quarter-finals, the two teams won their respective series 2-0 against Gran Canaria and Valencia Basket, respectively. And in the semi-finals they matched each other with a 3-1 result against Joventut and Unicaja. With respect to the May game in Kaunas, Chus Mateo's team will have Yabusele and Poirier, two very important players, back. The power forward is the fourth most valued player in the playoffs 16 in a ranking led by Tavares 23.8 and Musa 21.2. Mirotic 15.7 and Satoransky 15.3 are the Blaugrana's leaders.
Parallel paths
Real Madrid and Barça have had similar paths to reach the league final. In the quarter-finals, the two teams won their respective series 2-0 against Gran Canaria and Valencia Basket, respectively. And in the semi-finals they matched each other with a 3-1 result against Joventut and Unicaja. With respect to the May game in Kaunas, Chus Mateo's team will have Yabusele and Poirier, two very important players, back. The power forward is the fourth most valued player in the playoffs 16 in a ranking led by Tavares 23.8 and Musa 21.2. Mirotic 15.7 and Satoransky 15.3 are the Blaugrana's leaders.