Barcelona and Olimpia, on the court next Friday, 28 October, at the Palau Blaugrana, have met 25 times in their history. Barcelona leads the all-time series 14-11, 11-8 during the EuroLeague era, but the last two games have been won by Milan. Barcelona is 7-2 at home, Olimpia is 6-3 when playing in Milan. On neutral court, it is 1-0 Barcelona. In recent years there have been some sensational Olimpia wins over Barcelona and some painful defeats.
In 2014, EA7 won with a resounding 91-63 no-contest, inspired by Alessandro Gentile’s 24 points, and inflicted to Barcelona the worst European defeat since 2007, interrupting a streak of 24 consecutive victories in the Top 16. Five years ago, Olimpia won both games, the first at home 78-74 with 19 points scored by Jordan Theodore and the second on the road, 83-81, with a decisive field goal made by Dairis Bertans with five seconds left in the game. Andrew Goudelock scored 20 points; Arturas Gudaitis added 16 and went 7-for-7 from the field.
Olimpia swept the series again successful last year: 75-70 at the Mediolanum Forum with 17 points coming from Gigi Datome and 16 from Devon Hall. In the second game, in Barcelona, Olimpia won 75-73 in an epic battle. After closing the first half six points ahead, holding Barca at 28 points, Olimpia went seven points down after three periods. But still with an impeccable defense it came back and built a five-point late lead. In the end, Kyle Kuric narrowed the gap to one point, Malcolm Delaney restored it to four points with a huge three and finally Mirotic made another three but too late. Olimpia then secured the win.
Another memorable victory was that of three years ago when Olimpia defeated Barcelona 93-80 with a sensational 31-12 comeback with 17 points and seven assists made by Sergio Rodriguez, 16 points and eight rebounds coming from Vlado Micov. 14 points were also scored by Luis Scola. In the return game, however, Barcelona won 84-80 with 26 points and nine assists from Malcolm Delaney. Two years ago, Barcelona won all three games played during the season with Olimpia, 87-71 at home, 72-56 in Milan and finally in Cologne, in the EuroLeague semi-final, 84-82. Cory Higgins’ jumper at the end proved to be decisive.
