Real Madrid and Barcelona open fire in the Super Cup

While the echoes of the national team's feat in the Eurobasket still resonate, the spotlight on basketball moves from Berlin to Seville, where the ACB Super Cup begins this Saturday.

Real Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Coosur Betis and Joventut de Badalona will compete for the first title that marks the kick-off of the season in Spain.

This afternoon, meringues and verdiblancos will meet in the first semi-final (6:30 p.m. by Vamos) and then Barça will do so against Penya (9:30 p.m. by Vamos).

The final will be on Sunday (6:30 p.m., by Vamos) at the Palacio de los Deportes San Pablo, which will be illuminated again for a great event, turning Seville into the epicenter of national basketball.

Real Madrid, league champion, and Barça, winner of the Cup, start as clear favorites for the title.

But the Eurobasket showed that basketball predictions are worthless.

Joventut, third-placed in the regular league, and Betis, who play as locals, will try to take advantage of the lack of filming of the two giants, whose squads have undergone many changes this summer.

🧐 Just so I'm clear... 𝗟𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗦 𝗬 𝗟𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗦!?

🏀 Coosur @RealBetisBasket 🆚 @RMBaloncesto

🏀 @FCBbasket 🆚 @Penya1930

👉 #SupercopaEndesa 📆

September 24 and 25

📺 @vamos

📍 Palacio Municipal de Deportes San Pablo, Sevilla#ListosParaRomperla pic.twitter.com/vVJCkflTgx

– #SupercopaEndesa (@ACBCOM) September 23, 2022

The goal at Real Madrid is to start the

with a record: to be the first team to win five consecutive Super Cups.

Before his official debut as Madrid's head coach, Mateo remembered his predecessor at the press conference before leaving for Seville.

"I'm really looking forward to a new stage, although with a bittersweet feeling because Pablo [Laso] is not here this year," said the coach, who admits that expectations for this course are very high.

The white club has made a great effort this summer seeking to cover the shortcomings of last season.

Hezonja, Cornelié, and above all, Musa and Sergio Rodríguez, are the defending champion's arguments for this course to be dyed white again.

The Bosnian forward, MVP last season with Río Breogán, has landed on his feet.

Leading scorer in the preseason (23.6 points per game), he arrived grounded after leaving the Eurobasket in the group stage and has managed to recover the external threat so as not to depend so much on Tavares.

The Cape Verdean giant, MVP of the ACB final, was the key for his team to finish off Barça, taking the fight to the physical plane, where he became bigger than his 2.21m.

The defeat was a heavy blow for Jasikevicius' team, who arrive at the Seville event without Nikola Mirotic.

The power forward had some discomfort in his Achilles tendon and the Blaugrana club announced on Thursday that he will miss the first weeks of competition, with no fixed date for his return.

The coach lamented the loss of his star and complained about the tight schedule: "We are burning the players".

Barça has also rearmed this summer in search of fresh air.

Six changes.

Exum, Calathes, Hayes, Oriola, Smits and Davies have packed their bags.

In his place have come Satoransky, Paulí, Kalinic, Da Silva, Vesely and Tobey.

Mirotic's injury accelerated negotiations with the Slovenian center, who could be cut in the middle of the season.

This week, in the Catalan League, the signings made their debut with good feelings, winning the title against Joventut, their rival this Saturday, although Jaskevicius declared that they are still far from where they want to be.

Satoransky, who returned after six years in the NBA, will carry the stripes in the absence of Mirotic after leading his team in the Eurobasket (4.8 points and 11 assists per game), in which he fell in the round of 16 against Greece.

On the other side of the hill are Betis and Joventut.

In the last 13 editions, the two giants have shared all but two of the Super Cups (in 2016 they won Gran Canaria and in 2017, Valencia), also being the most successful (Madrid has eight titles to six for Barça).

In La Penya they rely on Tomic, Kyle Guy, who arrived from the Miami Heat, and Parra, European champion, to dream of their third Super Cup, which would join those of 1985 and 1986. Meanwhile, the Verdiblancos enjoy their first final of the week for the title, but they have an amulet: Luis Casimiro, who has played in the three finals of the three Super Cups he has played, the last one with Gran Canaria, which he won against Barça.

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