Real Madrid regained his good feelings and defeated Red Star (95-72), which was the leader of the classification, in the fifth game of the Euroleague. Chus Mateo’s team, led by Facundo Campazzo, was very effective in defense and moved the ball with great judgment in attack. Real Madrid, after a start to the season in which they suffered more defeats than expected, seem to have righted their course definitively and achieved a very convincing victory, their third in Europe. A communal match, marked by generosity, which was reflected in the 26 assists distributed by the white team,
Red Star made an unforgivable mistake: letting them think and run to Facundo Campazzo. The Argentine point guard, always so fast, always so smart, took advantage of this gift to give a two-step recital. In the first quarter he made the difference and launched a Real Madrid that was very compliant in defense and especially generous in attack. Then he finished off the game in the third quarter, where he once again set the pace that completely disarmed the Serbians, who arrived at WiZink with the halo of a defensive team and left with almost 100 points conceded.
Campazzo went to the bench, with the fans applauding unanimously, when there were still three minutes left in the third quarter with a lead of 24 points (67-43) after scoring 13 points – without a miss on the shot -, capturing three rebounds and distributing six assists – two of them, between the legs of his opponents – in just 19 minutes. Dazzling. His departure was a relief for Red Starwhich gained some momentum with a 0-9 run that forced Chus Mateo to call a timeout to abort Serbian hopes.
This match gives credit to Real Madrid, so hesitant the first weeksand so firm in the last days. There are already three victories in a row, enough, perhaps, to chase away his fears while he continues waiting to see if a new reinforcement arrives to his squad. Against Red Star, he also took a step forward on both sides of the field. A great defense that left its rival with mediocre shooting percentages -40% on two-pointers and 28% on three-pointers-, and brilliant work in attack, where the players knew how to move the ball with judgment and patience so that in the end reached the player who was in a more advantageous situation.
The Red Star accused the synchronicity of Real Madrid and also their absences, two outstanding absences such as those of Joel Bolomboy and Nemanja Nedovic, perhaps too much of a handicap for them in such a complicated field with the WiZink Center. With the game resolved, Chus Mateo took the opportunity to debut Sido Gueye, a young 17-year-old Senegalese center who trained in the Madrid youth academy.
Baskonia, for its part, achieved a comfortable victory against Alba Berlin (80-57) in a match in which Marcus Howard He once again scored points (26 in 24 minutes), but in which defense was vital against a German team that was weak in shooting.
