Villeurbanne (AFP)
After two great successes, Villeurbanne fell from his cloud in the Bayern Munich Hall, 104 to 63, Thursday in Germany, on the third day of the Euroleague.
The Asvel, back this season in the finest European competition, had created the sensation by beating the two great Greek clubs Olympiakos and Panathinaikos in their room of the Astroballe.
We suspected that the champion of France, Tom Thumb competition both in terms of the budget and the workforce, could not take long at such a pace, but the return to earth was particularly brutal in a rival that does not not (yet) part of the Continental Cadors.
The Asvel has never existed in the Bayern Hall, a club that made its return to Euroleague last season (11th in the regular season with the all-time high of 14 wins in 30 games) and hopes to climb into the European hierarchy.
The score was already 30 to 13 after the first quarter and Bayern has never stopped widening the gap, winning all quarter-time.
The Villeurbannais did not show up in Bavaria in the best conditions, without the young leader Theo Maledon and the American interior Adreian Payne, both injured for several weeks.
Amine Noua was one of the few to survive in the sinking with 16 points. The German international leader Maodo Lô was the best scorer of the game with 19 points, including 4 out of 4 to 3 points, just like a formidable squad behind the bow (10 of 12).
Bayern Frenchman Mathias Lessort, a world bronze medalist this summer with the Blues, had 10 points and spectacular dunks.
Asvel will continue its campaign with a new trip next week to Lithuania in Kaunas. By then she will have hosted Pau-Orthez Sunday in the Championship of France, a competition in which she is undefeated in four games.
© 2019 AFP