The trip to the Stark Arena and its more than 18,000 white-hot spectators is usually intimidating. It promises to be worrying for the merengue club, five days after the general brawl between players in Spain and the second setback of Madrid, outgoing finalists but one defeat away from the exit.

Especially since they will not be able to count on their French international Guerschon Yabusele, suspended five matches after his tackle-choke executed on the Australian Partizan Dante Exum who left the floor at bell-foot and before being filmed crutches in hand in Belgrade.

On the Serbian side, after coach Zeljko Obradovic assuring that he would "work to calm everyone", the director of the Stark Arena Goran Grbovic also called for tranquility.

"If there is an incident, an object flies and unfortunately someone is injured as a result, all the stands will be emptied in 45 minutes, and the fourth game will be played without an audience. So, be smart. Support Partizan, your club," the former club player urged in an interview with Serbian media Mozzart Sport.

It remains to be seen whether the sanctions imposed by the Euroleague will have eased tensions.

As a reminder, the previous meeting, finally returned to Partizan (95-80) on Thursday, was amputated from its last minute forty, after the exclusion of 21 players according to the official website of the Euroleague.

In addition to Yabusele, only Argentine Gabriel Deck received a suspension (one match) for Real. Spanish veteran Sergio Llull, who started hostilities with a tie on American point guard Kevin Punter, for example, avoided any penalty.

While the latter collected a penalty of two matches and his French teammate Mathias Lessort, of one match. Dante Exum, on the other hand, participated well in the pre-match training on Monday.

In the other quarter-finals, Barcelona can conclude Wednesday (19:00) its series in Kaunas, after its two successes against the Lithuanian club in Catalonia (2-0) to win its ticket for the Final Four, precisely in Kaunas (19-21 May).

While Olympiakos must win in Istanbul to regain the advantage of the field against Fenerbahçe (1-1). Like Monaco on the floor of Maccabi Tel Aviv (1-1).

The schedule of Game 3 of the Euroleague Basketball Quarterfinals:

Tuesday 2 May (Paris time, GMT+2)

(20:05) Maccabi Tel Aviv (ISR) - Monaco (FRA)

(20:30) Partizan Belgrade (SRB) - Real Madrid (ESP)

Wednesday 3 May (in Paris time, GMT+2)

(19:00) Kaunas (LTU) - Barcelona (ESP)

(19:45) Fenerbahçe (TUR) - Olympiakos (GRE)

© 2023 AFP