Bayern welcomes well-rested EuroLeague favorite Real Madrid

Three games in five days, part two: An enormous effort was needed for the Bayern Basketball team to keep the upper hand in the important EuroLeague duel with the Russian top team Zenit St. Petersburg (82-80). Head coach Andrea Trinchieri's team came back from a ten-point deficit (37-27/19th) in an exciting matchup that had fans white-knuckling until the last seconds. Nihad Djedovic, Zan Mark Sisko and Robin Amaize all missed the game due to injury.

Like the FCBB, their next opponent has twelve wins on the season (Bayern is in fourth place12-7). Real Madrid (12-6) and coach Pablo Laso, who have already won the top competition ten times, will be guests at the Audi Dome on Friday evening with tip-off at 20-30. On Sunday (15:00 MagentaSport live), the Hamburg Towers come to Munich ifor a matchup in the Bundesliga.

While Trinchieri must somehow get his men back on the floor fresh and full of energy, the Spanish title contenders arrive well rested . Real's home game against Belgrade on Wednesday was canceled on short notice, as the Serbs were been unable to travel to the Spanish capital due to the onset of winter.

Leaders in the ACB ahead of Barcelona
"We have an incredible amount of respect for Real Madrid and their great quality," Trinchieri said ahead of the top-notch matchup. "But for us, the main thing now is to regenerate in the very short time after a physically and mentally tough game against Zenit. Real didn't play and  so the necessary energy is certainly key in this game."

Bayern's worrying personnel situation will not change before the tip-off. Real, on the other hand, is able to compensate for the prolonged absence of US forward Anthony Randolph (9.3 ppg) with ease, given its deep, quality squad. From their last 13 games in the EuroLeague, only two were lost, at league leader ZSKA Moscow and recently against the Final Four candidate Milan (80-76).

The favorites have been missing guard Sergio Llull (9.8 ppg) in a team that is very balanced in scoring and has two players averaged double-digit points in center Walter Tavares (7ft /11.6 ppg, 7.8 rpg) and Trey Thompkins (11.1 ppg, 4.1 rpg). The team also re-signed longtime Maccabi center Alex Tyus two weeks ago.

"There are teams that want to win, but I have a team that never wants to lose," Trinchieri extolled the character of his group after the huge win over Zenit. "And except for the first matchup in Madrid, we have always ibeen n a position to win in the end." At the end of October, the FCBB lost 100-82 without a real chance. Distance shooter Jaycee Carroll (19) and Thompkins (16) were top scorers for Real, which tops the standings in the Spanish ACB with 16-1 wins ahead of archrival FC Barcelona (15-3).