Maximum tension between Real Madrid and Partizan Belgrade on Thursday night in a high-stakes match in the Euroleague quarter-finals. As the Spaniards were corrected for the second time in a row on their floor and headed for further disillusionment (80-95), a fight broke out in the fourth quarter. The match, until then rather correct, degenerated following a contact between two players, the Madrilenian Llull giving an arm shot in the chest of Punter.
The incident ignited the powder and the two squads came to blows in the center of the field. Several players fell to the ground. The Frenchman from Real Madrid Guerschon Yabusele even managed to tackle a Belgradois to the ground with an impressive fight hold. The leaders had a hard time separating the stars of the Euroleague. This scene of chaos lasted for long minutes.
Once calm returned, the referees viewed the images of the incidents for long minutes to find the culprits. An interminable wait that ended with the end of the match (1’40 to go), the exclusion of 21 players and the victory of Partizan, now on the verge of the semi-final of the most prestigious of continental competitions.
“It’s not a pretty picture, neither for Real Madrid nor for Partizan, it can’t happen again,” Serbian coach Zeljko Obradovic reacted at a press conference. “These kinds of things happen with the intensity and the character of the players but they are not things to see,” commented the Spanish veteran Rudy Fernandez, also in a press conference.