A 17-year-old boy excites fans at an unexpected Barça dance.

BarcelonaBarça kicked off a demanding week of three away games with a resounding 71-92 win over Maccabi. The Blaugrana team forgot their defeat to Hiopos Lleida and took advantage of their solid shooting percentages to impose a scoring pace that was impossible for their opponents to match. Forced to play in Belgrade, far from their fans, the Israeli team offered no resistance.

Joan Peñarroya placed young Sayon Keita in the starting five. More than a warning to Youssoupha Fall, who was left out of the squad, the selection of the 17-year-old Malian was a good bet. The center forward, who is in his third season at La Masia, performed well in his Euroleague debut (4 points and 2 rebounds).

The Barça team's performance was very good. Barça's speed threw off a Maccabi side that had imagined the game would be played at a different pace. The combination of the home team's defensive sluggishness and the visitors' accuracy created the first glimmer in the scoreboard (18-31).

Barça built a lead of almost 30 points during a second quarter in which Myles Cale scored with great fluidity. The shooting guard, very comfortable playing with space, scored four of his first six three-pointers. The Barça team's ball movement exposed Maccabi's defense and left the game all but decided at halftime (32-60). "Their ball circulation deactivated our entire structure," acknowledged Oded Kattash.

Barça's slack allowed Maccabi to narrow the gap during a third quarter in which the Blaugrana team eased up on defense (48-73). Very comfortable on offense, the Catalans had no trouble securing the victory and moving up to an encouraging record of three wins and one loss in the first four Euroleague rounds. Toko Shengelia came within a whisker of a triple-double, finishing with 8 points, 8 assists, and 7 rebounds. Willy Hernangómez also added 19 points and 7 rebounds.

Tension in Manresa

Baxi Manresa will host Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem this Wednesday (8:45 p.m.) in a Eurocup match that will be played behind closed doors. The match, declared high-risk by the Anti-Violence Commission, will cause a complete halt to sporting activities in the Congost area. Manresa City Council urged clubs that were training to suspend training and matches due to the heavy police presence and the planned protests.

The protest rally, called by the Boicot ICL and Zona Roja groups, is scheduled to begin at 4:00 p.m. and will attempt to peacefully prevent the match from taking place. Baxi Manresa issued a joint statement with La Laguna Tenerife, who faced Bnei Penlink Herzliya in another match played behind closed doors.

Joventut Badalona, ​​​​for its part, defeated Israeli side Hapoel Holon (65-81) and took sole possession of the top spot in its Basketball Champions League group. The match was played in Szombathely, Hungary.