Barca star Mirotic missed both games against Bayern last season, and the German team took full advantage to claim a pair of victories. 

Pivotal Performer: Barca's Mirotic buried Bayern

But on this occasion, the power forward was available and played a key role by scoring 11 points – with 7 of those coming as his team took control towards the end of the first half. Mirotic now averages 16.0 points per game against Bayern and has a 4-1 career record against Thursday’s vanquished opponent.

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FC Bayern Munich v FC Barcelona (2021-10-07T18:30:00.000Z)

Barca put up outstanding shooting numbers from the field, making 18 of 27 two-point attempts (66.7%) and 9 of 18 from beyond the arc. 

Standout stats: Barca's stellar shooting

Unsurprisingly, that included last season’s most accurate three-point shooter, Kyle Kuric, making 2 of his 3 attempts. The visiting team also had plenty of trips to the foul line and made decent use of those with 17 of 21 free throws made.

FC Barcelona made it two wins out of two with a hard-earned 72-80 road victory over FC Bayern Munich at Audi Dome on Thursday night. 

Barca stays strong to down Bayern, 72-80

The visitors scored the last 10 points of the first half to take control, stayed ahead after the break behind Cory Higgins, and leaned on strong defense to seal the deal. Higgins led the way with 16 points and 5 assists, while Brandon Davies scored 15 and Nikola Mirotic added 11. Bayern’s Darrun Hilliard topped all scorers with 18 points, with DeShaun Thomas (14) and Augustine Rubit (13) also scoring in double digits. Barca improved to 2-0, while Bayern is still waiting for its first win at 0-2. 

The early stages were closely contested, as Bayern enjoyed success inside through Thomas and Rubit, while Davies scored close to the basket and Nick Calathes struck from deep for the visitors. A triple from Rubit stretched Bayern’s lead to 13-7, but Rokas Jokubaitis scored 6 points in a row to tie it up. Nick Weiler-Babb sent the hosts in front from the foul line, but Jokubaitis continued his hot streak with a three-pointer to make it 15-16 after 10 minutes. Hilliard and Kyle Kuric both scored 5 fast points early in the second quarter and Hilliard kept on pacing Bayern with a deep strike. Nigel Hayes-Davis made it 26-27 midway through the second as the lead continued to change hands and two baskets from Mirotic plus a three from Davies kept Barca in front. Rubit maintained his strong display to make it 33-34, but 4 points from Hayes-Davis and a Mirotic triple helped give the visitors a 33-44 lead at halftime.

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Corey Walden opened the second half scoring from deep and Thomas added an inside basket, but Barca stiffened its defense and Calathes hit a triple to restore a double-digit lead, 38-49. Ognjen Jaramaz and Pierre Oriola traded inside scores, before Higgins struck a long two and Kuric added a three for a 41-56 edge. Walden and Higgins scored in penetration, and Higgins stayed hot with free throws and a triple for a 47-63 advantage with three quarters elapsed. 

Rubit pulled Bayern closer and Zan Sisko hit a three-pointer to make it 52-63. Davies reignited Barca’s offense and Rolands Smits struck from beyond the arc. Weiler-Babb kept Bayern hoping from mid-range, but Mirotic kept the visitors at a safe margin. Thomas hit from deep to pull Bayern to 60-71 with 4 minutes remaining and two dunks from Othello Hunter plus another Thomas basket made it even closer, 68-74, with a minute to play, but good defense and free throws did the rest for Barca.

This is what the protagonists of the game had to say after the dust settled.

Radonjic on Zvezda win: "Good game, defensively and offensively"

### Dejan Radonjic, Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade

“Congratulations to my players for the win and the really good game. We have had so many problems in our first games of the season. We are still in almost the same situation. But we played a really good game defensively and offensively. To win here you have to be ready to play at both ends. It’s always nice to play in a great atmosphere and today it was a big challenge for us to play against Maccabi in front of fans. I hope we can get some of our players back soon because playing a small rotation with the schedule will be difficult for us.”

### Nikola Kalinic, Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade

“We played tough. We tried to play good defense. We put a lot of pride in it. We are feeling good right now. We just need to keep playing like this and give our best in every game and we’ll see. I think today was great and I believe we can keep playing like this.” 

### Nate Wolters, Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade

"We just needed a road win early in the year. It’s always good to win on the road. We have a lot of guys out right now. It’s been a tough situation early in the year, but we played really well tonight and played good defense and didn’t let them get in a rhythm all night.” 

### Ioannis Sfairopoulos, Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv

“We want to congratulate our opponents because they played a better game tonight. We knew that it is a tough team. We said that they play very good on defense. I think the most important thing for us was first that we didn’t start the game very good. We had 8 turnovers in the first quarter. We scored only 10 points. We played their rhythm even though we discussed it and analyzed it and said we didn’t want that to happen. I think after they got a double-digit lead we got frustrated and nervous. And that caused some of the bad decisions offensively and defensively. We showed during the game a lot of miscommunication on defense, a lot of bad position and spacing on offense. But we had some moments where we could score and maybe change the momentum of the game. That didn’t happen. We tried until the end to fight - as you can see from us scoring 26 points in the last period. But it was too difficult to come back. It’s a bad game, a bad loss. Unfortunately, it happened in front of our fans. We wanted to protect our home court, but it's a long way to go. It’s too early to cry. We have to work harder to improve our game, learn from our mistakes, learn a lot from this game and play much better the next games.” 


### Angelo Caloiaro, Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv

“Offensively we struggled, especially in the first quarter. We already had 8 turnovers. I think we let our offensive struggles and the way the game was slowed down the game tempo get into our defense. And our defense wasn’t great either.”


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Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv v Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade (2021-10-07T18:05:00.000Z)

Zvezda shot a very solid 58.3% on two-pointers in the game - not to mention 35.0% from three-point range. 

Telling numbers: Zvezda's two-point defense

Zvezda shot a very solid 58.3% on two-pointers in the game - not to mention 35.0% from three-point range. The guests’ defense meanwhile shined as Maccabi made just 11-of-30 two-pointers or 36.7% - which was only just slightly better than its performance from beyond the arc at 33.3%. Zvezda forced Maccabi into 8 turnovers in the first quarter and refused to let the hosts regain control of the game, though Maccabi committed only 6 more turnovers in the final 30 minutes.

Jasikevicius on Barcelona win: "Offensively also when we didn’t turn the ball over"

### Sarunas Jasikevicius, FC Barcelona

“I’m very happy. I told my team it’s a big win. A lot of teams will come to Munich and lose. They are a great home team, very well prepared and always play physical basketball in the right way. I thought defensively we were very solid until the last couple of minutes. Their scores in the first three quarters, 15, 18 and 14, were very good numbers against a very good team. Offensively also when we didn’t turn the ball over, we were very good. For this part of the season, this was pretty good basketball. Obviously, we need to keep on improving and hopefully we will do that.” 

### Cory Higgins, FC Barcelona

“Being more physical and mentally strong made the difference for me tonight, I played tough basketball. Bayern is always a physical team, they’re not going to make anything easy for you. As a team, we had the right mindset about being physical today. I was struggling in the first half, but my teammates and coach gave me confidence and that’s what this team’s all about, we always pick each other up.” 

### Nicola Mirotic, FC Barcelona

"It was a very serious game by us. We knew how important it was and how we had to play. Bayern at home are a great team and very physical, but the key was our defense. We allowed them 72 points at home which is very good. We had some ups and downs but we played a very serious game so I’m very proud of the team and how we played. We want to keep building from this.” 

### Andrea Trinchieri, FC Bayern Munich



“They were better. We didn’t find a way to generate offense, and they deserved to win. We fought but definitely it wasn’t enough. Congratulations to Barca.”

“We were good for 18 minutes, then the last 2 minutes of the second quarter were crucial for the final result. We fought really hard. We tried to come back, but we had a lot of problems on offense and when you don’t score it’s hard to maintain the same level on defense.”


Jasikevicius on Barcelona win: "We didn’t turn the ball over"

Home teams have dominated this matchup in the past as the hosting clubs have put together a 10-2 record since 2000.

Zvezda's rare road win in Tel Aviv

Home teams had dominated this matchup in the past as the hosting clubs  put together a 10-2 record since 2000. Both teams have only lost once again the other side at home in this showdown. All told, the home side had won the last six games. Zvezda’s only other road win over Maccabi came on January 19, 2017, when it prevailed 67-71. Maccabi will have to wait until March 29, 2022, in Round 29 to try to knock off Zvezda in the Serbian capital.

Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade entered the win column in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague with an impressive 63-75 victory at Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv. 

Zvezda steps up defense to win in Tel Aviv

Nikola Kalinic led all scorers with 19 points while Nate Wolters poured in 17 points against his former club and Luka Mitrovic picked up a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds in the victory - which gave the Serbian side a 1-1 mark. 



Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade entered the win column in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague with an impressive 63-75 victory at Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv. Nikola Kalinic led all scorers with 19 points while Nate Wolters poured in 17 points against his former club and Luka Mitrovic picked up a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds in the victory - which gave the Serbian side a 1-1 mark. Maccabi has the same record after a disappointing showing in front of a sold-out Menora Mivtachim Arena. Scottie Wilbekin knocked down 6 three-pointers for 18 points and Mathias Lessort chipped in 16 points in the loss. 



Zvezda came out strong with Kalinic scoring the first 4 points. Maccabi committed 5 turnovers in the first 4 minutes with Kalinic grabbing a steal and an assist for Wolters to make it 0-10. The hosts finally got on the board through James Nunnally and Wilbekin’s first three-pointer trimmed it to 7-12. Wilbekin hit another triple, but Mitrovic extended the gap to 10-20, which was the score after 10 minutes. Marko Simonovic started the second quarter with a three-pointer and the lead was 13 points. Wilbekin answered with another triple, but Maccabi went nearly 3 minutes without a score and Simonovic hit another three as Zvezda surged ahead 13-28. After another Maccabi timeout, Angelo Caloiaro stepped with a three-pointer and two three-point plays within 35 seconds to trim the deficit to 22-28. Zvezda responded with a 1-7 surge and the cushion was 23-35 before Lessort finished the first half with 4 points. The hosts trailed 27-35 at the break.



Jalen Reynolds scored inside and Nunnally hit a three-pointer to get Maccabi within 32-37. The Maccabi offense stalled again though and Mitrovic had 5 points in helping the guests pull away to 32-44. Wolters knocked down a pair of triples at the end of the quarter and Zvezda was up 37-54 after 30 minutes. Ognjen Dobric opened the fourth quarter and the lead was 37-56. Maccabi tried to fight back with a Wilbekin triple and Lessort points and the score was 43-58. Dobric, Wolters and Kalinic made sure there would be no comeback with three-pointers of their own to make it 46-67 with under 5 minutes to play. Maccabi tried to stay alive with an unsportsmanlike foul, which resulted in 5 points thanks to a Wilbekin triple to make things interesting 55-68 with under 3 minutes remaining. Maccabi could not get closer than 11 points the rest of the way. 

Zvezda steps up defense to win in Tel Aviv, 63-75

Nikola Kalinic was on the mark all game offensively for Zvezda, scoring the first 4 points of the game and finishing with a game-high 19 points. The Serbian international also was present on the glass with 5 rebounds and he dished out 5 assists. 

Pivotal Performer: Kalinic set the tone

Nikola Kalinic was on the mark all game offensively for Zvezda, scoring the first 4 points of the game and finishing with a game-high 19 points. The Serbian international also was present on the glass with 5 rebounds and he dished out 5 assists. Kalinic also came up with 1 steal early on as Zvezda set the tone defensively in the opening minutes - forcing 8 Maccabi first-quarter turnovers. Add that all up and Kalinic collected an index rating of 22.