Real Madrid-Zalgiris. Prediction and announcement regarding the Euroleague match

The match between Real Madrid and Zalgiris will take place in Madrid on Tuesday, October 17. The match will start at 21.45 Kyiv time. The match will be broadcast live on Setanta Sports Ukraine TV channel.

This week will be the first of several so-called “double” weeks in the regular season of the most prestigious European basketball cup. This name is given because not one but two full rounds are played at the same time along the course. The matches of the third matchday will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday, and Thursday and Friday will be allocated for the fourth round matches. And right from the start, all fans of European basketball will be greeted by a meeting of the teams at the top of the standings. In Madrid, local Real Madrid will host Lithuanian Zalgiris. Both clubs started the new season with two wins in two matches and shared the fourth place with Barcelona and Valencia.

Real

The great star of Spanish and European basketball is in excellent form at the beginning of the new season. The Madrid team has played nine official matches so far and won all of them. Los Blancos’ first two wins in the new football year came in the 2023 Spanish Super Cup, and this trophy was then moved to the club museum. Real has won five times in the Spanish ASV League, while two more wins belong to the opening rounds of the Euroleague. In a nice addition, Mateo Chus’ team had beaten the Dallas Mavericks in an exhibition game the week before. NBA representatives did not prioritize the result and played a significant part of the match with deep reserves, but it is always an honor to win against a team from the strongest league in the world. In addition, the Madrid team managed to face their main rivals in Catalonia twice in the new season, twice losing to Barcelona 90:80 (Spanish Super Cup final) and -86:79 (ASV League regular season match). .

As for the performance in the Euroleague, the Madrid team played two matches that were quite different in content. Real Madrid, who had a very tough fight and great difficulties as a guest player in the opening round, defeated Baskonia 79:77, and did not have any problems in the next away match with the last champion of the tournament, the Turkish club, in the second round. Ephesus Pilsen, which was completely dismantled at the beginning of the season” – 103:80.

One of the factors behind Real’s strong start was that they retained all their key players from last season. Madrid said goodbye to Anthony Randolph, Adam Hanga, Nigel William-Goss and Peter Corneli, but they were not the main elements of the Madrid machine. In return, the Spanish club brought back Argentinian defender Facundo Campazzo, who earned star status at Real Madrid a few years ago and easily rejoined the team. Apart from this, the composition of the Spanish team remained constant.

Zalgiris

The Lithuanian giants unexpectedly managed to qualify for the Euroleague play-offs last season, leaving many high-status and rich clubs behind in the regular season. This season, many fans and experts were skeptical about the possibility of repeating this success because most of the opponents were seriously strengthened by European basketball stars, which cannot be said about Zalgiris.

However, the current champion of Lithuania shows that he has serious plans for the Euroleague this year as well. In the opening match of Europe’s main basketball tournament, Zalgiris defeated Italian Virtus from Bologna 82:79, and the next week in their hometown Kaunas, with traditionally strong support from the fans, Kazys Maksvytis’ charges defeated Red Star Zvezda. Serbia, which bought very well in the off-season – 79:74. Lithuanians also perform well in the local championship. In five rounds, Zalgiris won five victories and shared first place with their arch-rivals Vilnius Rytas with a 100% result.

Zalgiris’ personnel potential is average by Euroleague standards. Moreover, it is clear that the loss of Ignas Brazdeikis, one of the leaders who transferred to the Greek Olympiacos in the offseason, will not pass without a trace. However, as mentioned above, this does not yet prevent the Lithuanians from achieving victory. The most notable transfer made by the Kaunas club this summer was the transfer of Canadian defender Naz Mitrou-Long, who could not find himself in Milan last year. However, Zalgiris got a much bigger reinforcement with the departure of defender Keenan Evans from the team’s hospital. The American legionnaire suffered a very serious Achilles injury in early January this year, and before that, Evans was one of the most remarkable players of the 2022/2023 Euroleague.

***

In today’s match, some of the current leaders of the Euroleague will face each other. If such success was expected from Real, Zalgiris’ successful start was a pleasant surprise in many ways. But today the Lithuanians will face a truly top team for the first time in the new playing year. In contrast, Madrid defeated stronger teams this season. They are also the favorites in the match against the Kaunas club, but Zalgiris will definitely not give up without a fight.

Prediction Sport.ua: Real Madrid wins

1.12 – 6.5 place bet money Zrobiti bet