Barça 66-78 Real Madrid: Out of the final four

The blaugranes have come to the end of the road in this season's Euroleague. Defeat by 78-66 in the semi finals of the Final Four at the hands of Real Madrid put paid to Barça's hopes of a third Euroleague title despite an excellent start to the game. The reverse means that Saras Jasikevicius' side will face Monaco in the third and fourth place play off. 

Good start and three point success

After conceding six unanswered point early in the contest, Barça's excellence from the three point line saw them take a first half lead. Saras' team scored nine three pointers in the opening two quarters, a new record in the Final Four, six of which came in the first period. 

Abrines, Kalinic, Satoransky and Kuric all scored freely from deep and helped Barça to a 42-36 lead at half time. 

Lack of composure costs dear

In the second half, however, the blaugranes failed to score in the opening five minutes. Real Madrid reeled off 15 unanswered points to surge ahead at 54-47. Barça came back with a score from Satoransky but the contribution from Sergio Rodríguez for Madrid in the fourth quarter was crucial. 

El 'Chacho' scored nine points in the final stretch to make it 67-60 and Barça felt the pressure of being behind as they were unable to close the gap to lose 78-66 to say goodbye to the dream of another Euroleague title. 

MATCH STATS

Barça, 66

Madrid, 78

Barça: Satoransky (7), Laprovittola (12), Abrines (16), Mirotic (3), Sanli (-) -starting five- Vesely (4), Sergi Martínez (-), Kalinic (6), Kuric (11), Jokubaitis (6), Nnaji (1), Tobey (-). 

Madrid: Williams-Goss (10), Hanga (-), Tavares (20), Ndiaye (2), Musa (7) -starting five- Causeur (-), Randolph (6), Rudy Fernández (2), Hezonja (14), Sergio Rodríguez (12), Sergio Llull (5), Abalde (-). 

Score progression: 18-18 / 24-18 (42-36) / 13-22 (55-58) / 13-22 (55-58) / 11-20 (66-78)