An imposing 86-68 victory for Saras Jasikevicius' team away at Real Madrid allows Barça to return to top spot in the Euroleague. A devastating first quarter performance laid the foundation for the win with top scorer Laprovittola in fantastic form.
Opening dominance
With Laprovittola pulling the strings, Barça got off to a wonderful start in the Clásico as they sprinted into a 12-2 lead with four minutes gone. The visitors' energy in defence and precision shooting launched them into a 28-8 lead at the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter there was no let up and at one point the blaugranes were 26 points ahead at 40-14. Real Madrid rallied slightly to cut the lead to 52-31 at half time.
Closer second half
With Barça in complete control the pace from Saras' side slowed a little in the second half and Real Madrid edged back into the contest. After half an hour of the game Barça's lead stood at 71-55. Into the final quarter and Laprovittola once agian came to the fore to guide the blaugranes to victory by 86-68, their biggest ever win over Real Madrid in the Euroleague.
MATCH STATS
Real Madrid, 68
Barça, 86
Real Madrid: Heurtel (4), Causeur (8), Abalde (7), Yabusele (4) and Tabares (25) -starting five- Hanga (3), Llull (8), Thompkins (-), Randolph (-), Williams-Goss (5), Alocen (2) and Poirier (2)
Barça: Calathes (10), Laprovittola (20), Exum (13), Mirotic (9) and Sanli (5) -starting five- Kuric (10), Smits (2), Davies (11), Sergi Martínez (-), Jokubaitis (6), Hayes (-) and Nnaji (-)
