The mood was celebratory, cell phone cameras shone everywhere on Friday evening in the Audi Dome, which was sold out with 6,500 spectators. The stage was set for this big game, FC Bayern Munich vs. FC Barcelona, fourth duel of the best-of-five series in the quarter-finals of the Euroleague. Bayern were under pressure, 2-1 down in the series and needing a win to save themselves against clear favorites into a fifth game. But it is not uncommon for FCB to show their best performance under this pressure. And so the spectators cheered gleefully when Barcelona’s Nicolás Laprovíttola underwent an airball in his first three-goal attempt, meaning the play equipment even missed the ring of the basket. And they cheered almost ecstatically when, in return, Nick Weiler-Babb scored the first three points for Munich.
The fact that they kept cheering until the end, even louder, was due to the impressive performance that the Bayern basketball players offered their grateful supporters. From the start they got into a frenzy against Nikola Mirotic and the other NBA-experienced stars from Barcelona, which only ended with the final siren. An unreal 59:52 (36:25) shone on the scoreboard, which meant that Bayern actually made it into the decisive fifth game next Tuesday in Barcelona. The result also showed that Barcelona’s otherwise strong offensive simply bounced off their masterful defense.
In the third quarter, almost minutes of humiliation begin for Barcelona
It was already clear early on that it would be her evening. They led 5:2, then 14:10, Barcelona coach Sarunas Jasikevicius waved his arms around on the sidelines with increasing dissatisfaction – and took the first time-out at 10:16 shortly before the end of the first quarter. His problem was: She didn’t help at all. Because Bayern ended the first quarter with an 18:12 lead and even extended it in the second when Ognjen Jaramaz converted a nice three. There they were again, the 6500. And for Barcelona, who endured a disastrous evening, things got a whole lot worse.
Because the third quarter started with an alley oop, which the Catalans allowed. After that, almost minutes of humiliation began for her. Whether Othello Hunter, Deshaun Thomas, Nick Weiler-Babb, Vladimir Lucic or the others – they scored from all possible or almost impossible positions. The lead grew to 19 points in the meantime. And Barcelona? Hit more often towards the end of the game. Much too late: The favorite for the title sneaked off the Munich floor shortly before 11 p.m., deeply humiliated.