Basketball: Monaco barely beats Bayern and secures the Top 3 in the Euroleague

Monaco barely beat Bayern Munich (89-85), in its Gaston-Médecin hall, Thursday evening during the last day of the Euroleague, and assured its place in the Top 3 of the competition, synonymous with advantage of the field in the quarter-finals.

Like last season, Monaco will therefore host its opponent during the first two play-off matches, on April 23 or 24 for match N.1, then on April 25 or 26, for match N.2.

With 23 victories for 11 defeats, the Roca Team even had a better regular season than last year (21-13). Despite the financial problems of the company Fedcom, owned by the president and majority shareholder of the Monegasque club, Aleksej Fedoricsev, the Roca Boys have “finished the job”, as their coach, Sasa Obradovic, asked them after last week's success against Kaunas .

However, despite a 24-point advantage at the heart of the second period (63-49, 25th), facing an opponent who had forgotten his defensive principles in Bavaria, at the same time as his Spanish star Serge Ibaka, last minute withdrawal, the Monegasques managed to scare themselves at the end of the match.

It took a personal action punctuated by a dunk from Alpha Diallo, Monegasque's top scorer of the match (20 pts), 20 seconds from the end to ensure a sufficient gap for victory (86-82). Because the Germans, led by an excellent Carsen Edwards (26 points) had come back to two points (84-82 with 50 seconds remaining). They first made a run (11-0) which allowed them to win the 3rd quarter (30-20), and come back to 12 points (72-60).

Then, under the leadership of French international fullback Sylvain Francisco (17 pts), they achieved an improbable comeback (80-77, 38th, then 81-79, 39th, and finally 84-82).

Incomprehensibly, Monaco, largely dominant before the break, with a 15-point lead at the end of the first quarter (29-14) and 22 at the break (52-30), completely let go of its defense. But with experience and energy, the Monegasques held on at the end of the match, giving themselves the opportunity to compete in the Euroleague play-offs for the third consecutive season.