Real Madrid maintained their 100% winning record at home in the EuroLeague this season with a hugely convincing 84-58 victory over last season’s champions Fenerbahçe at the Movistar Arena.
Both teams came into the contest looking to return to winning ways, with Real Madrid winless in their last three games in the competition and Fenerbahçe suffering a 94-79 defeat at the hands of Valencia in their previous outing. The hosts were also looking for their first victory over Fenerbahçe since March 2023, having lost their last four games against the Turkish side.
Despite recent history not being on their side, Madrid were certainly not lacking confidence in the opening quarter and surged into a 17-2 lead within the opening three and a half minutes of the match. Tavares and Campazzo began particularly impressively for the hosts, with the former scoring five points and pulling down five rebounds, while the latter made two spectacular three-pointers during the first quarter. Fenerbahçe, inspired by several three-pointers of their own from Horton-Tucker, somewhat limited the damage as the conclusion of the first quarter neared, and found themselves trailing by only 9 points after the opening 10 minutes.
The break in play before the second quarter did little to change the momentum of the game, and Maledon led the charge as Madrid continued to put points on the board. In stark contrast, Fenerbahçe were unable to convert any of their 8 attempts from beyond the 6.75m line in the second quarter, leading to tempers flaring on the visiting touchline. Coach Šarūnas Jasikevičius grew increasingly animated over his side’s wasteful performance, and understandably so, as Fenerbahçe only accumulated 6 points during the second quarter, compared to Madrid’s 24, allowing the hosts to stretch into a commanding 49-22 lead by half-time.
After what one would imagine would have been some rather stern words from Jasikevičius in the dressing room at half-time, Fenerbahçe did improve during the third quarter. However, they were consistently kept at arms length by the hosts, who did not allow them to build any consistent momentum, and the Turkish side never truly threatened to find a way back into the contest.
Scores from Baldwin and Melli during the fourth quarter for the visitors were largely cancelled out as Tavares, Garuba, Abalde and Lyles all found the basket for Madrid, who put in a hugely impressive collective effort to move themselves up to 9th in the EuroLeague standings.
It was a night which should inspire huge optimism and confidence among the Madrid players, fans and coaching staff, as they look ahead towards a Liga Endesa game against Zaragoza on Sunday. Meanwhile, Fenerbahçe will have plenty of areas for improvement before they take to the court on the weekend as they visit Mersin MSK in a Süper Ligi clash.
Real Madrid Roster: Lyles; Kramer; Abalde; Campazzo; Procida; Hezonja; Maledon; Deck; Garuba; Tavares; Llull; Feliz.
Fenerbahce Roster: Bacot Jr; Birsen; Baldwin IV; Wilbekin; Melli; Horton Tucker; Biberovic; Bitim; Jantunen; Hall; Colson; Birch.