Barça 83-86 Real Madrid: Edged out of the final

It wasn't to be. Barça fell short of reaching this season's Euroleague final after being edged out by Real Madrid. A very even game saw Barça up by 13 points at the start of third quarter, but the team in white took control of the scoreboard as the second half progressed. Barça were in the game throughout and just lost out at the end, final score 83-86. Nikola Mirotic top scored in the game with 26 points.

Even start

Real Madrid started the game with more accuracy and were leading 8-14 in the 5th minute. Defensive corrections and Davies and Mirotic leading the attack drew the score level to 15-15 three minutes later. First quarter score: 19-19.

Good second period for Barça

Real Madrid again took a slight lead at the start of the second quarter but Barça came back once again, with Laprovíttola and Mirotic scoring heavily, taking advantage of a slack Real Madrid attack, to go into half time with an 11 point lead (45-34).

Real Madrid even up the game

The third quarter began evenly, both sides taking turns to score nine points in the first five minutes, with a three-pointer by Mirotic restoring the 11 point advantage to Barça, much to the delight of the travelling fans in Belgrade (54-44, min. 25). However, Real Madrid's Causeur got into the groove and hauled them four points ahead by the end of the quarter (56-60).

Edged out of the final

Barça were finding it hard to break through their opponent's defence but managed to even the game up at 75-75 with three minutes to go. Again Causeur scored but back again came Barça and a basket by Abrines made the score 81-82 with 16.2 seconds to go. Ultimately, Real Madrid managed to hold their nerve and edge out Barça for the win, final score: 83-86.

Game stats:

Barça, 83
Real Madrid, 86

Barça: Calathes (4), Laprovittola (17), Exum (7), Sanli (2) and Mirotic (26) - starters -, Davies (159, Smits (1), Hayes-Davis (-), Abines (7), Higgins (-), Kuric (-) and Jokubaitis (4).

Real Madrid: Causeur (18), Deck (7), Hanga (4), Yabusele (18) and Williams-Goss (-) - starters -, Rudy (3), Abalde (7), Poirier (6), Tavares (8), Llull (15) and Taylor (-).

Quarters: 19-19 / 26-15 / 11-26 / 27-26

Referees: Luigi Lamonica, Ilija Belosevic and Mehdi Difallah.