Overview
- Dubai Basketball, coached by Xavi Pascual, beat FC Barcelona 94-87 in the Euroliga after building a 15-point halftime lead and exploiting Barça’s thin frontline on Tuesday.
- Barça’s new coach Aleksander Sekulic fielded a heavily overhauled roster that lacked natural centers Josh Nebo, Yan Makoundou and Tosan Evbuomwan, which limited rotation and contributed to the second-quarter collapse.
- Kevin Punter led Barça with 25 points while Bruno Kabengele scored 21 for Dubai, and the game used EuroLeague’s new data-driven automated referee assignment that selected Olegs Latisevs, Piotr Pastusiak and Gentian Cici.
- Spain beat Croatia 4-1 in Sevilla with Lamine Yamal scoring twice and adding an assist, a performance that left Spain 2-0 in Nations League group play and reinforced Yamal’s rising status in Ballon d’Or conversations.
- The back-to-back stories signal immediate effects from this summer’s coaching and personnel moves: Pascual’s better-funded Dubai project is producing wins and Barça faces a congested travel schedule and squad-integration challenges that Sekulic must fix quickly.