Monaco eliminates Barcelona and qualifies for the final oven of the Euroligue

Worn by Mike James, the ASM resisted the return of the Spanish team on Tuesday to climb into the last square, two years after its first appearance at this stage.

France Télévisions – Sport writing

La Roca Team will play the second final of Euroligue in its history. The Monegasque team fought to snatch their qualification against Barcelona on Tuesday, May 6, by winning the decisive match of the quarter -finals, the fifth of the series. It imposed itself on the smallest of the margins (85-84) after a particularly unbreakable last quarter, which saw it being carried out in the last minute.

Monaco was scared to the point of fear of elimination in front of his audience. The regrets would have been eternal insofar as the ASM had missed two match balls on the prosecution of the Spanish team, after winning the first two games in the series.

“We don’t go into the unknown. We know what to expecthad assured the star Mike James to AFP the day before. There is no surprise. We will have to stay focused, keep a cool head, and regardless of the evolution of the match, always follow the game plan. We have to take advantage of the situation “. The Monegasques have become specialists in decisive matches in Euroligue, and this fourth in four years has smiled at them.

Everything did not go as planned Tuesday evening. The players of Vasilios Spanoulis missed their start. They had to wait until the end of the second quarter to lead for the first time. On their momentum, they counted up to 10 points ahead of Barça. Immediately dug, this gap melted and the Catalans gave up in the middle of the third quarter. And in an extremely tight end of the match where each converted shot gave the impression of being worth double, Mike James (20 points, 5 assists – Best marker in the match) Put on the heating blue and restored the advantage at the very end of the match to his own.

The goal is now to do better than two years ago, when the first ASM Four Four ended with a collapse against Olympiakos. The Euroligue has been waiting for a French winner since 1993 and the coronation of Limoges.