Real Madrid 81-66 FC Barcelona: A lot of work to do

FC Barcelona suffered a heavy defeat at Real Madrid in game three of the Liga Endesa final, and big things will be required to turn things around. They trailed from start to finish at the WiZink Center on Friday and are now trailing 2-1 in the best-of-five series.

Playing catch-up

Some sweet early play from, especially from Mirotić and Calathes, meant the visitors were the first side into double figures, but it was pretty much downhill from there. Madrid were 21-16 up by the end of the first period.

Despite several sparks from the Catalans, with some fine defence and powerful counters from Calathes, Mirotić and Sanli, it wasn’t enough to break the home side’s hold on the game. The all-whites took their lead into double figures and it was still 46-39 at the interval.

Never quite there

Barça managed to cut a -13 deficit to just -5, but as in game one of the series, anything Barça did, Madrid always found an answer. Within the blink of an eyelid, they were +13 again.

Rather than improve, matters got worse. At +19, Madrid were so far ahead that they could even afford to do give time to less regular players. Barça were fighting hard, but making way too many errors to mount a serious comeback.

Now it’s time to put this bad night behind them and remember that they are still just two wins away from the league championship. Game four is on Sunday at 6.00pm CEST. 

MATCH STATS

Real Madrid, 81
Barça, 66

Real Madrid: Couseur (13), Hanga (7), Deck (14), Tavares (10), Yabusele (9), Rudy Fernández (3), Abalde (2), Poirier (6), Llull (10), Taylor (5), Núñez (-) & Ndiaye (2)
Barça: Calathes (10), Higgins (3), Exum (5), Mirotić (9), Sanli (-), Davies (8), Smits (5) Laprovittola (6), Kuric (15), Jokubaitis (2), Abrines (3) & Sergi Martínez (-)

Periods: 21-16; 25-23 // 20-14; 15-13

Referees: Carlos Peruga, Benjamín Jiménez, Alberto Sánchez Sixto