A historic failure occurred for Real Madrid basketball players.
Playing without four injured players, the Royal club lost 95:107 at home to Tenerife’s “La Laguna” team on Saturday.
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Now this team, which a month ago lost to Vilnius “Rytas” in the FIBA Champions League semi-finals and was eighth in the Spanish regular championship, created a miracle.
Tenerife’s basketball players won the quarter-final series 2-1, defeating “Real” in the first game in Madrid (98:97), then losing in Tenerife (83:118), but then triumphing once again in Madrid.
On Saturday, Tenerife’s team was led to victory by guards whose combined age is 80 years.
37-year-old Australian Patty Mills scored 29 points, and 43-year-old Brazilian Marcelinho Huertas scored 23 points.
Real’s front line was thinned due to injuries, but Tenerife’s club also lacked four players – one of them, Lithuanian legionnaire Rokas Giedraitis, has not played since the FIBA Final Four semi-finals when he suffered a cruciate ligament injury.
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Mario Hezonja’s 22 points did not save “Real” on Saturday.
The last time the Spanish league regular season winners fell in the quarter-finals was 18 years ago.
For Real Madrid, this was the first season since 2011 without winning a single trophy.
When Pablo Laso and Chusas Mateo coached the Madrid team, the team would win at least one prize per season.
Now Sergio Scariolo, who was so close to the Euroleague champions’ crown 13 days ago in Athens, burned out.
