The Palau Blaugrana experiences the strangest triumph in decades

BarcelonaA bittersweet night at the Palau Blaugrana. A Barça team, more hard-working than brilliant, dispatched Zalgiris and moved into fifth place in the Euroleague (82-70). The game was once again marked by the massive presence of visiting fans, which caused discontent among the Barça fans. The 1991 Dragons and Sang Culé left the Palau early in the second quarter. Toni Valle, alma mater of the cheerleading group, approached the stands to boo Josep Cubells, the director in charge of the basketball section. "What happened at the Palau is unacceptable. The Zalgiris fans scattered throughout the Palau have caused an unsustainable situation that will one day lead to something serious happening. The safety of our players and fans must be our absolute priority," Sang Culé said in a statement.

Joan Peñarroya, who was again without Nico Laprovittola, Juan Núñez, and Jan Vesely, relied on a short rotation to overcome a difficult opponent. Darío Brizuela, who scored 20 points, was the key player.

Barça took a while to get into the swing of things in a match that had started off on a high (14-20). Zalgiris managed to slow the pace of play, which was bad news for the home side. Once they got their defense in order, Barça began to return to their usual game and take control of the scoreboard (36-31).

Despite being very annoyed with the refereeing, Barça found the resources to reach the final ten minutes with a solid lead (59-51). Zalgiris' efforts to make up the points gap failed to hold up against a very focused Barça team.

Tribute to the heroes of Grenoble

Barça took advantage of the match to pay tribute to the members of the Blaugrana team that won the Grenoble Cup Winners' Cup in a memorable final against Zalgiris forty years ago. Legends such as Manolo Flores, Epi, Nacho Solozábal, and Juan Domingo Lizard De Cruz, Xavi Crespo, Pedro Ansa, Ángel Heredero and Ferran Martínez received the support of a fan base that has not forgotten its heroes.