There is no room for boredom with this Barça, fun and suffering guaranteed in equal measure for their followers in a season disguised as a roller coaster until now. Grimau’s team is a team of uncertainties, as capable of conquering the hell of Piraeus with a display of colossal epic as of signing the worst defeat in its history in the Euroleague two days later on the same stage and against the same rival. Perhaps one of the few certainties for the Blaugrana is the Palau Blaugrana, where they look and play comfortable, having sealed the best European regular season ever with 16 wins and only 2 losses. And at the Palau this Wednesday Barça has a date with history, in the broadest sense of the word.
“Playing at home gives us extra energy, but it doesn’t guarantee us winning. We have to take advantage of the Palau’s push, it is going to be an emotional match, but at the same time be aware of the team we will have in front of us,” Roger Grimau warned in the preview, sitting in the press room of the Joan Gamper sports city in the preview. of a match that, this time, is quite a final without being one.
Barça receives Olympiacos at the Palau in the fifth and decisive game of their playoff series after the 2-2 that the Hellenes achieved last Thursday with a painful beating. Whoever wins will get the ticket for the final four in Berlin (May 24-26, Uber Arena), making an appointment with Real Madrid, the current champion and the only one capable of stamping their passport through the fast track and avoiding the fifth game.
Statistics, and history, work in favor of Barça. With this new format, the home team has never lost a fifth game. Of the 18 occasions in which this scenario has been drawn, 18 wins for the one playing at home. In the case of the Blaugrana, they have been the protagonists of a fifth game up to eight times, winning the six that they played at the Palau and losing in the two that they played away from home (Lokomotiv Kuban in 2016 and Anadolu Efes in 2019).
“So far in the series the most physical and aggressive team has always won. I don’t think there will be any surprises on either side, we will have to fight and be solid for 40 minutes,” highlighted Satoransky, one of the Barça team’s standouts in the playoffs. Although if there is one name that has stood out so far it is, without a doubt, that of Jabari Parker, Barça’s most reliable piece. He is the highest rated on his team (14.8), the one who scores the most points (15), the one who plays the most (28m18s), the one who captures the most rebounds (5.8) and all with a spectacular 62.5% in the triple.
Barça has made 17 appearances in the Euroleague final four, but has never made four in a row. Another piece of history that comes into play tonight.
