Basketball champion Alba Berlin is badly injured in the German EuroLeague duel at cup winners Bayern Munich on Friday. The capital club suffered a defeat in the continental elite class at their dress rehearsal at Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel with 78:87 (39:47) in the fourth game since the end of their two-week compulsory Corona break.
Munich, on the other hand, improved their chances of a playoff place considerably with a 77:68 (45:29) in the chasing duel against the French representative ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne.
Berlin could only keep up in Tel Aviv in the opening quarter. After that, the broader quality of the hosts prevailed. In the team of Alba coach Israel Gonzalez, national player Maodo Lo was the most successful player of a trio with a double-digit yield with 18 points. On the other hand, five players shone with the home side with double-digit scores. Due to the 14th defeat in the 20th game, Berlin has almost only theoretical chances of participating in the play-offs of the top eight after almost two-thirds of the preliminary round in the third-last place in the table.
The situation in Munich is completely the opposite. Bayern coach Andrea Trinchieri’s team, who had never fallen behind in the match, emphatically underscored their play-off ambitions with their third win in the last four EuroLeague matches. The Bundesliga leaders have even drawn level with bottom-placed Anadolu Istanbul after winning.
As an additional bonus, the Munich side, where Augustine Rubit with 17 points and Ognjen Jaramaz with eleven points were the best throwers, also secured the direct comparison with the French, which may be decisive for the play-off participation. Trinchieri’s players had already won the first leg with 73:65.