Matchday 11: Madrid Seeks Reaction Against Red Star

The EuroLeague reaches its 11th round with Panathinaikos standing alone at the top and six teams tied with a record of 7-3. Two of those challengers, Barça and Crvena Zvezda, will play away against strong opponents this week. Real Madrid, on the other hand, needs to bounce back after the loss at home to the Greeks. Luca Banchi also returns to European competition at the helm of an Olimpia Milano that has parted ways with Giuseppe Poeta.

Madrid and Crvena Zvezda: offense versus defense

The match on Thursday at the Movistar Arena will pit the best offense in the competition, that of Real Madrid with 97.8 points per game, against the best defense, that of Crvena Zvezda, which allows only 75 points. Ibon Navarro's men arrive in good form with three consecutive victories, the latest in Piraeus where they held Olympiacos to just 57 points. Their away record is 3-1, while at home they also stand at 3-1.

However, Madrid comes off a loss in overtime to Panathinaikos and faces the game with significant absences. Facundo Campazzo, Theo Maledon, Mikael Jantunen, Gabriel Deck, and Usman Garuba will not be available. The Vitoria coach has the entire squad at his disposal except for Stefan Miljenović.

Ibon Navarro's Crvena Zvezda arrives with three consecutive victories and a record of 3-1 on the road. Their suffocating defense will be their main asset to contain the Madrid offense, which leads continental scoring with nearly 98 points per game.

Barça in Athens with significant absences

On Friday, Barça travels to Athens to face Panathinaikos in a rematch of the 1996 final won by the Greeks in Paris. The Blaugrana arrive with four consecutive victories in the competition, three of them achieved away from home. The statistics favor Aleksander Sekulić’s team: Panathinaikos has only won two of their last seven home games against Barça.

However, the Catalan team arrives very depleted. Punter will be out for about six weeks due to an ankle sprain, while Evbuomwan will miss approximately three weeks due to an oblique tear. In addition to these absences, Juan Núñez, Mo Gibson, and Yoan Makoundou will not be available, forcing Sekulić to make forced rotations in his lineup.

High-level secondary matchups

Valencia Basket hosts Bayern on Thursday in a game where everything favors the home team. Xavier Albert's team is the second highest-scoring in the competition with 95.8 points per game, while Bayern concedes the most with 94.5. TJ Shorts stands out as the fourth top scorer with 16.9 points and second in assists with 5.6. Valencia has won the last eight matchups between the two. Xavier Albert's squad continues without Nikola Mirotić or Nate Reuvers, and Mo Gueye is a doubt.

Joan Peñarroya's Partizan kicks off the round on Wednesday in Belgrade against Baskonia. The Vitoria team arrives in the worst possible situation: they are last with a 1-9 record and zero wins on the road (0-5). Partizan, with a 5-5 record, has won its last two home games and has the fourth best defense in the EuroLeague, allowing 78.9 points. The Vitoria side has only surpassed 80 points in one of their last five games. Perasović welcomes back Rodions Kurucs, while Partizan will be without Kevarrius Hayes and Derek Willis.

Maccabi debuts on Thursday at home in Limassol in a Tel Aviv derby, the third in EuroLeague history played in three different cities. The Israelis arrive with morale high after coming back from a 23-point deficit against Hapoel in the Israeli League Cup final on Monday. Both teams are on losing streaks in continental competition: Maccabi has four, Hapoel two. Newly signed Kamar Baldwin could make his debut.

Matches of great interest

Olympiacos, the reigning champion with a 7-3 record, seeks to react against Dubai after losing two of their last three home games. Xavi Pascual’s team arrives with five victories in six games. They have only faced each other twice, and in both instances, the MVP of the round came from the winning team. Thomas Walkup will face Olympiacos for the first time, the club where he spent five seasons and won the EuroLeague in 2026, although he has been absent since round 6.

Paris returns home after three consecutive away victories. Their fast-paced offense will face the second-best defense in the EuroLeague, that of Fenerbahçe, which allows 75.4 points. Šarūnas Jasikevičius's team has a 7-3 record but has only won one of their four away games, the worst away record among teams with more wins than losses. However, they have never lost to Paris, with a record of 7-0.

Luca Banchi makes his debut on the bench of Olimpia Milano, which has suffered eight straight losses with a record of 1-9. Their first opponent will be Žalgiris, which has won four straight and has taken all of its last four visits to Milan. The Italians continue to be without Devin Booker, while Žalgiris has only the absence of Nigel Williams-Goss.

Friday opens with a matchup of Spanish coaches: Pablo Laso with Anadolu Efes hosts Àlex Mumbrú and Virtus, both with a record of 4-6. Virtus has lost its last four contests, three of them at home. Efes, which defeated Panathinaikos in round 8, is still without Mike James, PJ Dozier, or Isaïa Cordinier. The locals have won the last three matchups.

The round concludes in Lyon with the first EuroLeague encounter between ASVEL and Beşiktaş, both at 4-6. ASVEL leads the competition in assists with 22 per game and in three-point shooting with 42.5 percent, while Beşiktaş is fifth in both statistics.

This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Jornada 11: Madrid busca reacción ante Estrella Roja