Victory in El Clásico and Euroleague leaders

Real Madrid beat Barça in the first EuroLeague Clásico at the WiZink Center, their third of the season after the Super Cup and Liga semi-finals, to become the competition's leaders and the only unbeaten team. In a game in which they went from strength to strength, they handed the Blaugranas their first Euroleague defeat. Trailing by 14 points in the 14th minute, they responded in a big way, going on a 39-11 run over the next 18 minutes to turn the game around and win it in the final moments after some heroic defence of their lead. Deck 20 points, 7 rebounds and 20 PIR and Hezonja 10 were key in the rebounding game, while Poirier 14, 7 and 18 was outstanding. Chus Mateo's men have now won 13 games in a row in this impeccable start to the season.

Madrid struggled to find their rhythm against a Barça side who were very aggressive and accurate in attack, allowing them to take control of the game early on. Until the seventh minute, Tavares was their only scorer with six points. Then came baskets from Poirier and Deck and an improvement in offensive rebounds 4, but they were not enough to counter the Azulgranas' better scoring, with Vesely and Abrines the main scorers with six apiece 12-19, min. 10.
 
Madrid came from behind
The lack of outside shooting hurt our team, who continued to do a good job on the offensive rebound, but failed to take advantage of their second options. The three-pointers were not falling today and they had to look inside for production with the Sergio Rodríguez-Poirier combination. Barça found Willy Hernangómez on a roll, scoring 9 points in a row to make it 14-14 midway through the second quarter. Down by 14, Chus Mateo switched to a five-guard lineup without pivots Yabusele was unavailable at the last minute, with Hezonja and Ndiaye on the inside and Deck at the three. Campazzo also returned. And the game took a radical turn. Madrid showed courage, grit, character and aggression. They stopped Barcelona in their tracks and held them scoreless for the next five minutes. The point guard took over and teamed up with compatriot Deck. The Argentine forward scored the final nine points of a 12-0 run that saw us only only two points behind Barça at the break after his first three-pointer of the game at the buzzer 28-30.

Madrid completed their comeback with a 4-0 mini-run as soon as they returned from the break. The effort was commendable because it is not easy to accumulate points without three-pointers. But they managed to find solutions. Nor did they have Tavares, on the bench with three personal fouls. But if there is any team capable of overcoming adverse situations, it is the European champions. Hezonja multiplied in rebounding 9 in 15 minutes and a standing ovation when he was switched, Musa in his defence of Abrines, Poirier making his mark under the hoop and, of course, Deck. What a game he had. Da Silva put Barça ahead again at 36-37 in the 25th minute, but that was as far as Madrid let them go, as Deck gave them a boost. Another 9 points, for 20, led a new 15-4 run in a great third quarter, both in attack 23 and defence 11, to take a 10-point lead 51-41, min.30.
 
Defending the lead all the way
Barça refused to go down without a fight and, thanks to the energy of Jokubaitis, offensive rebounds and five consecutive points from Satoransky, they drew level at 59-59 with a minute to play. We had missed too many free throws to close out the game and the Blaugranas were now in overdrive. But Madrid regained their composure and, paradoxically, it was from the free throw line - three from Campazzo and two from Hezonja - that gave them the win 65-64, 40 seconds despite Barça's best efforts and several instant replays. 65-64, min.40. Fifth win in a row in the Euroleague and on course for the second-best start to a season, behind only the eight from five seasons ago.
 
REAL MADRID-BARÇA STATISTICS