EUROLEAGUE – Madrid fly the flag for Spain as season reaches climax in Barcelona

BARCELONA (Euroleague) - It's not often that football takes a backseat to basketball at FC Barcelona, but this was supposed to be the weekend that it would happen because the city is hosting the Euroleague Final Four.

Defending European champions Barca, already with a 2011 Copa del Rey triumph in the bag, were supposed be the team cutting down the nets on Sunday in front of their own fans.

In sports, though, and especially in this season's crazy, unpredictable Euroleague, not much has gone according to plan.

Barcelona failed to make it to the gala event.

That meant a team with Juan Carlos Navarro, Ricky Rubio, Alan Anderson, Fran Vazquez, Erazem Lorbek and others wasn’t good enough to reach the semi-finals.

Or at least they did not bring their best against Greek giants Panathinaikos, a team that knows a thing or two about capturing Euroleague titles.

Pana beat Barca in their quarter-final showdown 3-1.

With Caja Laboral falling to Maccabi Tel Aviv 3-1 and Montepaschi Siena surprising Olympiacos 3-1, that meant that just one Spanish team would reach the Final Four.

Real Madrid took on Power Electronics Valencia in the quarter-finals and prevailed in a five-game basketball war, 3-2.

So with Spain buzzing about the possibility of three ACB sides reaching the Final Four, and the potential of a Barca v Madrid 'El Clasico' showdown on the cards, only the latter made it to the party.

Make no mistake, to win the Final Four in Barcelona would be a watershed moment for basketball in Madrid because that club has played second fiddle Barca in both football and basketball for several years.

And to happen now, of all times, when Madrid went through a major crisis following the resignation of coach Ettore Messina after the Top 16, makes the story all the more incredible for the players, the club’s fans and spectators all over Europe.

Messina, the man who turned CSKA Moscow into a powerhouse and led to two titles in his four years with the team, left Madrid in a huff in March when his team suffered a meaningless blowout defeat at home at the end of the Top 16 to Montepaschi Siena.

His long-time assistant, Emanuele Molin, was put in charge for the remainder of the campaign and Madrid did something they hadn’t been able to do in 15 years.

They reached the Final Four.

"With the way this club is, the surroundings, I'm amazed," said Madrid's Clay Tucker of the long time away from the Final Four.

"But every team goes through a period, no matter how big it is, when they don't win.

"Now it's up to us to go and win it."

Despite the controversy of Messina’s exit, there have been plenty of good things to write about Madrid, including the emergence of 20-year-old Nikola Mirotic, a Montenegrin-born forward who has played for Spain's youth teams and could feature for Sergio Scariolo's side this summer at the EuroBasket in Lithuania.

It was Messina's decision to put faith in Mirotic, in fact, that led to Jorge Garbajosa's demise.

Spain veteran Garbajosa was dropped from the first team and put on the transfer list to make way for Mirotic.

Garbajosa has since joined Unicaja Malaga.

While he has submitted his name for the NBA Draft, Mirotic is content to remain in Europe for a while.

He signed an extension with Madrid in April that will keep him with the club for several more years.

For Madrid to enjoy maybe their finest-ever hour in European competition, they will first have to overcome the might of Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Led by Israeli David Blatt, a man who celebrated the biggest win of his career as the coach of Russia's national team at EuroBasket 2007 in Spain, the fans will flock to Barcelona from Tel Aviv fully expecting a title.

Jeremy Pargo and Greece international Sofoklis Schortsanitis are two of the very talented players in Blatt's squad.

The other semi-final will pit Panathinaikos, who boast Euroleague defender of the year Dimitris Diamantidis and veteran coach Zeljko Obradovic, against Montepaschi.

The Italians' arrival in Barcelona didn't seem likely after they scored just nine first-half points in a Game 1 demolition at Olympiacos in the quarter-finals.

But they rebounded to win Game 2 in Athens and ended up claiming victories in Games 3 and 4 in Italy.

What's remarkable about the Montepaschi success is that it has come after the team parted with so many of their former players.

One to leave was Romain Sato, a veteran guard who moved to Friday's opponents Panathinaikos.

If the Siena run to Barcelona has done anything, it's highlighted the fact that coach Simone Pianigiani, who is also the Italy national team boss, is one of the best in the business.

FIBA