What happened at the end of the Real Madrid-Partizan game? A summary of a brawl

What happened at the end of the Real Madrid-Partizan game? Sportando tries to reconstruct the Real Madrid-Partizan brawl: a crazy night that will forever mark EuroLeague Basketball, especially for the decisions that will come in the next few hours.

One hundred seconds left in game 2. Partizan firmly holds a match that would mean a claim on the Final Four in Kaunas. Two victories in Madrid, incredible.

Hot tempers, and Sergio Llull, on defense, hits Kevin Punter hard. The former Olimpia Milano player turns around, seems to react, seeks contact twice, appears not to hit his opponent, but it’s the spark. Teammates intervene.

The image jumps, it’s not easy to understand. Certainly, Exum pushes Llull, Deck crashes on everyone trying to hit someone, Musa comes in tow, Punter gets shoved out, finds himself facing Musa and hits him, feeling threatened.

Lessort flips Musa, but in the middle of the court, the situation escalates, with Yabusele flipping Exum by grabbing him from behind by the neck, and then falling on top of him with his body. The Australian gets up, perhaps already injured, all players are on the court except Rudy, most likely. Here, the brawl is quickly subdued.

The game referees spend a long time reexamining the images of the brawl. After a lengthy consultation, they suspend the match. Neither of the two teams has the minimum number of players to continue.

After the chaos on the court, in the press room, the parties try to defuse the situation, especially in view of game 3 (yes, but with which players?) in Belgrade.

The first to speak is Zeljko Obradovic: “I have to calm all the people of Belgrade. I want to talk about basketball, not this. I have friends here and great respect for everyone. When we arrive in Belgrade, I will try to calm all the people who will then welcome Real Madrid. I won’t allow them to do anything. I’ll repeat this every day. We must talk about basketball.”

Rudy Fernandez follows, with whom the Serbian coach had previously left the court “arm in arm”: “I thank Zeljko for the words he said, for his willingness to reassure all the fans. Real Madrid must always fight to the end, and everything that happened must stay here.”

Chus Mateo will do the same: “I hope there are no further consequences. We have all taken our share of the blame and apologize. We must understand the moment and the frustration.”

Partizan leaves the Madrid arena amid applause from its fans. Dante Exum is on crutches. The player reportedly suffered a torn tendon in a toe on his foot.

Partizan’s doctor, Dr. Jakovljević, reveals this and attacks: “The way Yabusele threw him to the ground with a judo move, he deserves prison and a lifetime suspension. With that gesture, Exum could have broken his spine, suffered serious head injuries, and dramatically ended his career. It was terrible. I have never seen anything like this in my life.”

After midnight, EuroLeague Basketball validates the result: “the game is considered officially ended with the score recorded at the time of the interruption, 80-95 in favor of Partizan, which now leads the series 2-0.” And it refers every decision to the sports judge.

Now all that remains is to wait. But who will take the court next week in Belgrade?