The last two Euroleague champions will clash head to head in the Quarterfinal Playoffs for one ticket to the 2011 Euroleague Basketball Final Four. Defending champ Regal FC Barcelona marches into the playoffs as the only team to go undefeated in the Top 16. Panathinaikos, the 2009 Euroleague champion, was the winningest team in the first decade of the new millennium with four Euroleague crowns between 2000 and 2009 and is eager to stockpile more trophies. The Greens celebrated one of those titles, the 2007 Euroleague championship, at home in Athens. Regal FCB aims to duplicate that feat by winning this year’s title at the Final Four in Barcelona. The teams have met in each of the past four seasons and a total of 18 times over the years, with Barcelona holding a 10-8 edge, but the Greek champs owning the most important victory among them from the 1996 Euroleague title game in Paris, which was Panathinaikos’s first Euroleague championship. The matchups also boasts two of the Euroleague’s elite coaches with last year's Alexander Gomelskiy Coach of the Year trophy winner Xavi Pascual on the Barca bench and seven-time Euroleague winner on the Panathinaikos sidelines. By the numbers, the teams are not just similar, but clearly among the best as both rank in the top four in overall performance index rating and points allowed on defense. With history as a backdrop and two teams stocked with winners, this series has the makings of a Euroleague classic.

Regal FC Barcelona team page Regal FC Barcelona team stats Official website Barca, to Playoffs undefeated Interview: Juan Carlos Navarro

Panathinaikos team page Panathinaikos team stats Official website Greens advance in last game Blog: Stratos Perperoglou

Quarterfinal Analyst JAKA LAKOVIC Jaka Lakovic has been among the best players the Euroleague has seen over the past decade and ranks among the competition’s all-time top five in scoring, three-pointers made and assists. Four of those seasons and many of those points and assists came when Lakovic wore the green uniform of Panathinaikos, the team he and Regal FC Barcelona face in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Quarterfinal Playoffs with a spot at the Final Four in Barcelona at stake. Lakovic and co. face the ultimate challenge, looking to not only become the first team to repeat as Euroleague champs since 2005, but to become the first to do so in its home city since the advent of the single-game final in 1966.

Xavi Pascual Regal FC Barcelona Head Coach

Zeljko Obradovic Panathinaikos Head Coach

Quarterfinal Analyst ROMAIN SATO Romain Sato joined Panathinaikos this season after making a name for himself during four seasons with Italian champion Montepaschi Siena, during which he had a chance to taste the Euroleague Final Four in 2008 in Madrid. Few may remember that he actually suited up for his Quarterfinal Playoffs opponent Regal FC Barcelona before that, joining the powerhouse for Spanish League playoff games at the end of the 2005-06 season. Sato’s experience, athleticism and aggressiveness have boosted Panathinaikos at small forward this season, but as a team-oriented player, Sato knows everyone will have to step up in this series if the Greens want to dethrone Barcelona.

6.3

3.4

4.1

1.8

11.3

3.9

5.9

1.7

2.4

2.8

2.3

0.7

3.4

1.2

1.0

0.4

5.7

0.5

1.7

0.1

3.2

1.3

0.9

0.2

14.8

1.7

2.6

0.4

10.0

1.1

1.8

0.4

4.9

1.6

0.9

0.7

9.2

4.1

1.3

0.9

11.3

2.5

1.5

0.8

8.3

2.4

0.9

0.7

5.9

1.3

1.3

0.8

4.3

2.8

0.7

0.6

8.8

3.8

0.8

0.8

8.7

4.9

0.8

0.9

6.9

4.2

0.7

0.6

6.3

3.1

0.8

0.7

7.9

4.2

0.7

0.3

4.0

1.1

0.2

0.1

6.4

3.4

0.3

0.4

12.9

5.3

0.6

0.9