Road to London: FC Barcelona Regal

Despite getting to London with the best record in the competition, FC Barcelona Regal has managed to survive all kind of obstacles to make it to the Final Four. From career-threatening injuries to do-or-die situations, Barcelona has managed to maximize its efforts to round a near-perfect road to London. Head coach Xavi Pascual has been able to dosify his team's best players - particularily superstar Juan Carlos Navarro - and readjust his squad once signature player Pete Mickeal has to step out for the remainder of the season with the recurrence of a pulmonary embolism. Barcelona had a strong start, winning its opening 9 regular season games to finish first in this group. Despite an early road loss against BC Khimki Moscow Region, Barcelona managed to optimize its resources, winning the next 13 games to become its Top 16 group champion and get a 1-0 lead in its best-of-five playoffs series against Panathinaikos Athens. Back-to-back losses against the Greens left Barcelona in a make-or-break situation, facing Game 4 in front of a sellout crowd at O.A.K.A. Barcelona, however, played one of its best games this season to take the series back to Palau Blaugrana and ended up sealing a Final Four for the fourth time in five years. It is Barcelona's 13th Final Four appearance, breaking its own record since the format was chosen in 1988.

Regular season Game 5

Barcelona sends a message that echoes around the continent by beating CSKA Moscow 60-81 on the road. Juan Carlos Navarro stars with 21 points and Erazem Lorbek adds 15 to hand CSKA its worst Euroleague home loss all century.

Top 16 Game 6

In a direct fight for first place in Group F, Barcelona downs previously undefeated Montepaschi Siena to improve to 5-1. Ante Tomic, the bwin MVP for February, shines with 20 points and Xavi Rabaseda scores 16 off the bench.

Top 16 Game 10

Barcelona becomes the first team to clinch a playoffs berth by topping champion Olympiacos Piraeus 77-90 in Greece. Barcelona improved to 9-1 on its way to winning Group F. Lorbek has 21 points and Pete Mickeal 20.

Playoffs Game 1

To open one of the closest Euroleague playoffs series ever, Barcelona holds off Panathinaikos 72-70 as Victor Sada has all 13 of his points in the fourth quarter and overtime, while Sarunas Jasikevicius scores 11 and dishes 5 assists.

Playoffs Game 5

Capitalizing on home-court advantage, Barcelona seized early leads to outlast Panathinaikos 64-53 as Nate Jawai made all his shots and blocked 3 others, while Navarro and Marcelinho Huertas buried crunch-time three-pointers to grab the ticket to London!

Euroleague.net