Red Star outplay Real Madrid in Euroleague

Serbia's Red Star took another advantage of home court and triumphed in the 14th round of basketball Euroleague on Thursday over league's second ranked team Real Madrid 82-70.

Another surprising victory of Serbia's basketball champions Red Star came after home team managed to build and maintain a steady lead throughout the game, mostly thanks to precise three-pointers and field goals of veteran Marko Simonovic who scored 20 points.

Other double-digit players in ranks of Red Star were Marko Guduric (12 points), Ognjen Kuzmic (11 points, 8 rebounds) as well as Stefan Jovic (11 points, 6 assists).

Real Madrid' s Jefferey Taylor scored 25 points, while Sergio Llull added 12.

Red Star will move from 10th to 9th position in the Euroleague standings with 6 wins and 8 losses, while Real Madrid remain number two by 9-5.

Dejan Radonjic, coach of Red Star said that each victory in Euroleague has immense importance for the team, and admitted that Real Madrid was the better team on paper.

"They are better opponents than us, and I mean it sincerely and truly. We made some great results this season. We will try to achieve more of them, but we've are yet to see how far this will lead us," Radonjic said.

Real Madrid's coach Pablo Laso admitted that Red Star "completely outplayed his team".

"Red Star's players were really good and quick in play, they controlled the game and earned their victory. They completely outplayed us and we couldn't find our way back into the game," Laso said, calling the cheering atmosphere in Belgrade's 'Aleksandar Nikolic' hall "difficult to play against".

source: Xinhua