This name has a special ring to it in basketball, and fans of the only true indoor sport associate it with the hottest European Cup evenings and rousing passion: Red Star Belgrade. The Audi Dome will experience nothing less than a rousing atmosphere this Friday evening (1.4., 20:30) when the most popular Serbian club makes a guest appearance at the Westpark for Bayern's last regular season home game. Advance sales for the highlight game are going well, and for the first time in two years, 100 percent capacity is possible for a EuroLeague home game - and from a sporting point of view, a highly explosive duel is in the cards.
Last regular season home game for the FCBB
For Bayern (12-12), which will be challenged three more times away next week ( Fenerbahce, Efes and in Madrid), still have a chance of making the playoffs despite all the complications in the course of the season so far. The guests also have a shot at the playoffs (11-14) around the former Munich championship coach Dejan Radonjic. Perhaps 13, but probably 14 wins should be enough for a place in the top eight, and with four games still to play, Red Star is also still in the thick of the race.
The tenth-placed team still has two games to go with its notorious home crowd - the Zvezda fans have driven their team to nine of their eleven victories. In addition, Radonjic's team still plays at Kaunas, the last place team in the standings.
In general, Radonjic, German champion with Bayern in 2018 and 2019, seems to have arrived in the right place again: The Montenegrin coached KK Crvena zvezda from 2013 to 2017 and won almost everything there: Serbian champion three times, cup winner three times, Adriatic League twice. Since his return during last season, four titles have already been added. In the EuroLeague, he formed a unit with many home-grown professionals, which is always competitive as in Belgrade, Tel Aviv, the great Real Madrid, Fenerbahce, Olympiakos and in the first matchup against Bayern (81-78).
Belgrade has basketball fever again
Belgrade is back with basketball fever after coaching legend Zeljko Obradovic took over archrival Partizan. This duel electrifies the masses of the sporting nation of Serbia, but Red Star recently triumphed again clearly in the cup final (85-68). In the Adriatic League, which is likely to determine the right to be in the EuroLeague, Partizan is also in second place with one more defeat than its big rival.
Former Partizan pros Ognjen Jaramaz and Vladimir Lucic, as well as coach Andrea Trinchieri, know only too well what kind of atmosphere will prevail in the Audi Dome with what is sure to be a large number of Zvezda fans and how close it will be in this showdown. "It will be a big game and we hope for our fans," says co-captain Lucic.
The top scorer and pace-setter of the guests is returnee Nikola Kalinic (12.5 ppg) ahead of US guard Nate Wolters (11.1) and national player Ognjen Dobric (9.8). The use of the recently injured Austin Hollins (8.1 ppg), Branko Lazic (3.7) and center Maik Zirbes (3.9), the second former Munich member from the championship days, is good to play on Friday.