Villeurbanne, excited, took the scalp of FC Barcelona, a major player in Europe, masterfully dominated 76 to 72, for the last match of the Euroleague regular season on Friday at the LDCL Arena. In front of some 11,532 spectators, the team chaired by Tony Parker undoubtedly delivered one of its best matches of the current year, notably with a first quarter where everything or almost everything succeeded.
Beaten at the Palau Blaugrana 101-92 in early December, the Villeurbannais started this match with an intensity too rarely seen this season, in the wake of their imperial interior sector on both sides of the floor. Pivot Youssoufa Fall and power forward Joffrey Lauvergne tormented the Catalans in the paint, compiling between them 35 points and 13 rebounds. Neck to neck then tied at the end of the third quarter (57-57), Edwin Jackson gave a four-point lead seven minutes from the siren, on a winning shot.
Nando De Colo then put his team in front with 2 min 20 sec remaining thanks to three free throws (69-68). Then in the “money-time”, Paris Lee concluded the deal again on the same line, to offer a prestigious success to his team. The conquering, and finally liberated, face displayed in this match proves that Asvel, penultimate in the Euroleague, could have put forward solid arguments to better appear in the queen of European competitions.
Despite this defeat, Barcelona retains fourth place, synonymous with home field advantage in the play-off, just behind Monaco, who beat them twice this season with a big slap in the face (91-71) at the end of December on the Rock. . Barça, despite several poorly exploited second chance situations (16 offensive rebounds), finished on a false note, before facing Olympiakos in the quarter-final on April 22 or 23.