The match between Zalgiris and Bayern Munich will take place in Lithuania on Friday, November 17. The match will start at 20.00 Kyiv time.

Despite the fact that the new Euroleague season started relatively recently and each round fundamentally changes the appearance of the standings, many teams are already distributed on their home turf. It is not surprising that matches between such neighbors are of increasing interest and the victory in a head-to-head fight against a direct opponent is of great importance. One of these matches will take place today in Kaunas, where two teams trying to reach the play-off area will face each other. We are talking about Lithuanian Zalgiris and German Bayern.

Zalgiris

The Baltic club did not have the most outstanding transfer campaign in the offseason, especially when compared to other Euroleague teams. However, this did not prevent Kazys Maksvytis’ team from making an excellent start (three wins and one loss). However, things did not go so well for the Lithuanians. In the next four matches, Zalgiris suffered four defeats and their rivals were not the leaders of the tournament, except for Spanish Valencia, whom they could still play. The successful start of the new season so far allows the “green-whites” not to fall to the bottom of the standings (before the ninth round the Lithuanian champion was in thirteenth place), but if the current winless streak continues, then such a situation may arise. The course of events can be quite real.

Here is the full list of Zalgiris’ results in the current Euroleague:

5 October. “Virtus Bologna” (Italy) – “Zalgiris” (Lithuania) – 79:82

13 October. “Zalgiris” (Lithuania) – “Crvena Cvezda” (Serbia) – 79:74

17 October. “Truth” (Spain) – “Zalgiris” (Lithuania) – 93:79

19 October. “Basconia” (Spain) – “Zalgiris” (Lithuania) – 82:99

27 October. “Zalgiris” (Lithuania) – “Valencia” (Spain) – 72:87

2 November. “Zalgiris” (Lithuania) – “ASVEL” (France) – 88:91

9 November. “Anadolu Efes” (Turkey) – “Zalgiris” (Lithuania) – 86:82 (Overtime)

15 November. “Panathinaikos” (Greece) – “Zalgiris” (Lithuania) – 73:71

The leaders of the Lithuanian club at this stage of the season are American guard Keenan Evans (average of 14.8 points + 3.9 assists per game, efficiency ratio – 17.1 points) and Latvian big man Rolands Smits (13.5 points + 4.9 rebounds, efficiency rate –) 15.5 points).

Bavaria

Before the start of this season in Munich, they decided to build a new basketball project with much larger financing than before. Serious players such as defender Leandro Bolmaro, big man Devin Booker or the reigning world champion of the German national team Isaac Bonga were invited to the team. And Bayern’s main signing was Spanish big man Serge Ibaka, who returned to Europe from the NBA at the end of his career. Spanish coach Pablo Laso, who won two Euroleague championships with Real Madrid, was invited to head the renewed German club, but the continental giant stopped working with him in 2022 due to serious health problems with the coach.

However, as often happens in the history of such projects, the first seasons for them are not stable and are rather a difficult period for the realization of their talents and potential. It is possible to observe a similar situation in Bayern, which beat the strong Partizan at home, then lost in a fierce fight against clubs of the caliber of Panathinaikos and Maccabi Tel Aviv, or suffered a heavy defeat against the Spanish Barcelona with a difference of -39. Currently the club is in fourteenth place in the rankings.

Bayern’s results in Euroleague 2023/2024:

5 October. “Bavaria” (Germany) – “Alba” (Germany) – 80:68

12 October. “Panathinaikos” (Greece) – “Bayern” (Germany) – 78:71

17 October. “Basconia” (Spain) – “Bavaria” (Germany) – 68:76

20 October. Barcelona (Spain) – Bayern (Germany) – 98:59

27 October. “Bayern” (Germany) – “Fenerbahçe” (Türkiye) – 67:76

2 November. “Crvena Cvezda” (Serbia) – “Bayern” (Germany) – 74:68

9 November. Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel) – Bayern (Germany) – 93:90

15 November. “Bavaria” (Germany) – “Partizan” (Serbia) – 94:85

Currently, the leading roles in the team are the American big man Devin Booker (9.5 points + 5.9 rebounds, efficiency rate – 11.8 points) and the situation of the Spanish former NBA player Serge Ibaka (9.9 points + 6 rebounds), efficiency rating – 11.4 points).

***

Zalgiris and Bayern have already suffered quite a few losses at the start, so a defeat is definitely not in their plans. Especially from a direct rival in the fight for a place in the play-off zone. The strengths of the teams are approximately equal, which is confirmed by their neighboring places in the rankings. However, it can be assumed that the Lithuanians will be able to beat the guests from Germany with the help of the always noisy home stands.

Sport.ua prediction: Zalgiris victory

1.42 – 2.95 place bet money Zrobiti bet