By Sebastian Kayser
The champion T-shirts were already ready, the hall was sold out for the first time in years with 14,500 spectators, 19 wins in a row were behind the basketball players from Alba Berlin.
Everything was set for the eleventh championship overall and the third in a row. But the defending champion suffered a historic bankruptcy, losing the third of a maximum of five finals against FC Bayern Munich 60:90 on Friday evening.
After the biggest home bankruptcy in club history, the title shirts stayed in the box and had to go to Munich, where the fourth final will take place on Sunday (3 p.m., Sport1 and Magenta Sport live).
Completely unnecessary, because Bayern had to cope with the loss of several stars. Darrun Hilliard (29), Corey Walden (29) and Vladimir Lucic (33) were joined by ex-albatross Leon Radosevic (32), who had to go to the hospital with a feverish cold shortly before leaving for Berlin.
Alba, on the other hand, was complete except for Marcus Eriksson (28), who had been missing for months. But of all things, the hopes of the Berliners are now resting on the Swede. His foot injury seems to be cured, he could celebrate the long-awaited comeback today.
Bayern have to build on Friday’s outstanding performance if they want to keep dreaming of the championship. “You can make mistakes, but you must never give up. That was the best answer you could give today,” said coach Andrea Trinchieri (53).
Alba, on the other hand, was completely stunned. “They kicked our ass,” said Luke Sikma, 32. “They did everything better than us: rebounded, thrown and defended better. We were partially paralyzed, ”is the frustrated summary of coach Israel González (47). And national player Johannes Thiemann (28) admits: “A bad game from us. We were too euphoric. The people of Munich wanted it more than we did, they were more physical.”
This is precisely why the turning point is no longer utopian. It would be the first time since 1989 (Bayreuth vs. Leverkusen) that a final was overturned after the 0-2 draw.
