Olympiacos beat Barcelona 80-70 in the first round of the Euroleague. Piraeus made the difference in the third quarter thanks to a very good defense.

Yannulis Larentsakis was decisive for the team of Yorgos Bartzokas, scoring four accurate three-pointers in the last period. The Piraeus team’s first scorer was Sasha Vezenkov, who scored 20 points.

The hosts came out with a score of 4:0 with Satoranski, but the Greek double showed a reaction and overtook (4:6) with Vezenkov. The lead changed hands several times, with the Spaniard building a 16-10 series with consecutive Sanli points. Olympiacos reduced the score to 16-13 in the first period due to a basket and a foul by Boloboy.

Barcelona took an 18-13 lead with Higgins early in the second half. Guests with two points from Boloboy and three from Slukash equalized the score at 18:18 three minutes before the end of the half.

Šarūnas Jasikevičius’ team took a 22-18 lead with four consecutive points scored by Jakubaitis, but Olympiacos again fought back. Piraeus took the lead (22-24) on a Peters three-pointer and went 28-34 at halftime with two clean shots from the same player.

The Catalans cut the score to 31-34 thanks to a Laprovitola three-pointer early in the third quarter. Piraeus kept the lead thanks to Kanaan and Papanikolaou’s strikes, but Jasikevicius’s team again took a 39-38 lead with Laprovitolas. The guests made the score 39-44 with Vezenkov, but Barcelona took the lead again with Kalinic.

At 47-46, Yorgos Bartzokas’ team stepped on the gas, streaked to an 11-point streak to overtake Canaan 47-47. Higgins made it 49-57 in the third period.

Piraeus reached +11 (49-60) with a basket and a foul by Boloboy, but at that moment the hosts were 8-0 and reduced it to 57-60 with Higgins. Olympiacos withstood the pressure and ended up at +8 (57-65) thanks to a three-pointer from Larentsakis. With another three-pointer from the Greek defender, Yorgos Bartzokas’ team took the lead 59–68, with Barcelona responding with Laprovitolas.

Larentsakis gave Olympiacos a 9-point lead with another 3-pointer with 1:55 left in the match. The Greek defender was unstoppable, taking Piraeus to 66-76 in the last minute of the game. Two accurate shots by Sunli and a two-pointer by Vezenkov made the score 70:80, which became the final score.