Sergio Rodríguez

could be eternal.

But he turns 37 at the end of this season.

He returned to Real Madrid out of mutual interest, because of his desire for a second and definitive assault with the club in which he relaunched his career after his first stage in the NBA.

For full nights like this Friday at the WiZink, where the Tenerife native took the duel by the chest and injected his ability to have fun to straighten the white course against a Red Star who, led by

Vildoza

, threatened not to be a propitious victim .

[72-56: Narration and statistics]

With Chacho on track everything went downhill.

The figure of a creator has been missing in this Madrid from the early days of

Chus Mateo

.

Without the injured

Williams-Goss, neither Alocén nor Hanga

, the best possible solution is undoubtedly that of Sergio Rodríguez, although it has also cost him to wake up the course for the former CSKA and Milan player.

His offensive clairvoyance, his eight assists (none of the 21 white losses was his), was, together with

Deck

's consistency , the greatest virtue of a Madrid that is still thick, in search of itself.

He came after two consecutive blots.

Of those that perhaps no one remembers back in May, but of those that do not stop stinging.

Because Barça and Olympiacos are rivals to really measure up against, clear candidates for the Final Four.

And because Chus Mateo has no choice but to assume that his first months in office will be a permanent test.

So Estrella Roja, who still doesn't know what it's like to win in this Euroleague, was the ideal opponent to ward off evil and accumulate the confidence with which groups grow.

Serbian comeback

And so it was at the beginning, as if the whites had no one in front of them.

Abalde

started as the starter, but it was with Sergio Rodríguez at the controls that Madrid flew, nurturing his teammates with that happy basketball that he would preach until the end of his days.

Cornelie and Poirier

benefited from their freshness and a triple by

Yabusele

put a striking maximum at the beginning of the second quarter (31-13).

But, as if he was not yet able to sign flawless works, it was then that Madrid stumbled.

The Serbian comeback coincided with the momentum of Luca Vildoza, red-and-white debutant, back from the NBA with a contractual conflict pending resolution with Baskonia.

Two triples from the Argentine culminated a 0-11 run, which was watered by white losses, the main sin to redeem now in his game.

With Chacho back on track to tidy up, a final basket by Deck gave Madrid some oxygen back to go into the break (39-30).

But that nap had activated the rival.

And, above all, to a Vildoza who was reunited with basketball.

He accumulated desire and when he came back from the locker room he was already another Red Star.

He came close with another triple from

Bentil

(44-42) and then had to wake up the locals again, with a triple from Chacho and more basket passes.

Even so, a feisty Red Star, who unhinged a

Hezonja

who is here some days and not others, did not stop worrying until practically the final two minutes (a 10-0 run with the emergence of Tavares).

Because even this Madrid is not for too many joys.

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