In the closing stages of this particular match, Uli Hoeneß was no longer in his seat, down in row two. Standing, as well as the other 6500 spectators also, pursued the president of FC Bayern the last three minutes. Bangte, when Real Madrid scored five points in the last minute. Cheers as the final siren roared and won the 95-86 win. An evening that made Hoeneß obviously more joyful than the tough cup victory of his footballers the day before in Bochum.
Bayern against Real Madrid, otherwise a classic in football. On this day a rousing basketball game in the Euroleague, a game that showed that Bayern is arriving more and more in Europe's top. The Bavarians celebrated the third victory in the fifth game in the highest European competition.
@fcb_basketball got back to the winning ways on home floor with another fine offensive performance!
Highlights ... # GameON pic.twitter.com/Kr3uoZj0st
In order to classify how the Bavarians developed, where they come from and where they are now, one has to look back to the past years, those years after Hoeneß had questioned the members of FC Bayern in the spring of 2010, whether the club also basketball Would like to professionalize.
At that time they played second-rate, first in the gym on the Säbener road, before the club moved to the Olympic ice rink, which shared the basketball players with the ice hockey players of the EHC. Since September 2011, the Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle Bayern serves as a homestead.
"That we can really experience such a game as today against Real," said Hoeneß now after his last Euroleague home game as president of Bayern, "of which we could only dream back then."
Increased demands, subdued euphoria
But of course, the claims and ambitions after the recent successes have risen sharply, after the 2018 and 2019 championships and the first year in the Euroleague, when the playoffs of the top eight teams were narrowly missed.
It is clear that the team is aiming for the quarter-finals this year. It is logical that players like coaches warn against too much euphoria. Petteri Koponen, with 15 points as the outstanding guard on Wednesday's third-best bowler, speaks of a "very long way". Coach Dejan Radonjic likes to say: "It's only possible step by step." But the steps are getting bigger and bigger.
The game against Real made it clear that the team has further consolidated and found. Star new signing Greg Monroe, who came to Munich with the recommendation of 632 NBA games, is becoming more and more center of attention in the game of Bayern after voting problems at the beginning of the season as a center.
PHILIPP GUELLAND / EPA-EFE / REX
Star new signing Greg Monroe is becoming more and more the focus of Bayern's game
It was the momentum of Monroe and the remaining Munich offensive players, which surprised again and again the star ensemble from Madrid with two Spanish world champions and three Argentinean Vice World Champions. "We had a terrible defense today," Real coach Pablo Laso complained and praised the Bayern: "A strong team, hard to beat, very solid, but whether it will be enough for Bayern for the playoffs? Difficult to say the season is still long. "
Long and intense. The Bavarians will visit Baskonia in Vitoria, Spain on Friday, and the next match in Fenerbahce will be in Istanbul next week, followed by the BBL home game against long-time rivals Alba Berlin and two weeks later the away game in Valencia. Incidentally, that evening when Hoeness will resign from office at the AGM.
Annoying and unpleasant
Currently, FC Bayern is sixth in the Euroleague. Sure, it's only the fifth matchday, but with games like the one against Real, the Munich team also send signals to the competition that they are annoying, unpleasant. "If you beat Real Madrid, then it shows that we are one step ahead of last year, when there were two clear defeats," Hoeness said. "Real is a world power in Europe."
Bayern want to continue to plan carefully. The budget of currently around 30 million euros to the next season, they will certainly continue to increase in 2021 they will get in the south of the Olympic Park, a new venue for 11,500 spectators for the major duels as against Real. Maybe this will be a classic in basketball in the future.