Olympiacos-Real Madrid: gunning to level the playoff in Athens

Real Madrid and Olympiacos face each other tonight in the second leg of the Euroleague playoffs. With the Greeks leading 1-0, the Whites have another chance in Athens to win and tie the series and gain home court advantage before the tie moves to Madrid on Tuesday. To do so, they must defeat a rival that won the first game two days ago.

Madrid already experienced a similar situation in the 2017/18 season, also against a Greek team. Panathinaikos won the first game convincingly at the OAKA Arena. However, our team rose to the occasion to win the next three and qualify for the Final Four in Belgrade, where they were crowned champions and lifted La Décima.

It will not be easy. We face an Olympiacos side that showed on Wednesday the strengths that made them the best team in the regular season. They are a very solid team, with a very aggressive style of play and two decisive players in Vezenkov and Fournier. Real Madrid need to match Bartzokas's side in intensity, maintain their concentration for the full 40 minutes, and be consistent. Defensive rebounding and minimising turnovers will be key to victory. The Athenians hurt us inside, where Milutinov and Peters also played a prominent role.

The way forward
Madrid must look to the second half of the first game, in which they outscored the home side 43-37, and correct their poor start. Chus Mateo's team has been characterised this season by its strong first quarters, especially in the final stretch of the regular season. Examples include its starts against Virtus Bologna (+13), Asvel (+22), Crvena Zvezda (+13), and Bayern Munich in the play-in (+16). Tonight, it will be going for a victory that could change the course of the tie.