Real Madrid basketball crashes out of ACB playoffs to La Laguna Tenerife, sealing first trophy-less season for the club since 2010
A 107-95 home defeat to La Laguna Tenerife in the decisive third game of their ACB quarter-final series ended Real Madrid's basketball season on Saturday, confirming the first campaign without a single trophy for the club's football and basketball sections in 16 years.
A season that promised much ends in a quarter-final exit
Real Madrid entered the ACB playoffs as the top seed after dominating the regular season, but fell 2-1 in the best-of-three quarter-final series to La Laguna Tenerife. The Canary Islands side won the first game 98-97 at the Movistar Arena, Madrid responded with a 118-83 away win, but Tenerife took the decider 107-95 on Madrid's home floor. It is the first time since 2008 that the regular-season champion has lost in the opening playoff round, and the first time since 2011 that the basketball section has finished a season without silverware.
Injuries hollow out the interior defence
Head coach Sergio Scariolo pointed to an unusual concentration of injuries in the same position as a factor the team could not overcome. Centres Edy Tavares, Alex Len and Usman Garuba were all unavailable, leaving the interior defence exposed. Madrid conceded an average of 96 points per game across the series.
You cannot learn not to have three or four players injured in the same position. That has happened and it is very unusual to draw a conclusion from it, but there are things we have to digest and improve, especially on the defensive side.
Veterans Mills and Huertas drive the upset
La Laguna Tenerife were led by two former NBA guards. Marcelinho Huertas, 43, and Patty Mills, 37, controlled the tempo and punished Madrid's defence throughout the series. In the decisive game, Tenerife shot 46% from three-point range compared to Madrid's 24%, and a decisive run in the fourth quarter broke open a contest that had been tied at 79-78. Joan Sastre's three-pointer early in the final period gave Tenerife a lead they would not relinquish.
Scariolo faces questions but points to his contract
After the elimination, Scariolo was asked about his future.
He apologised to supporters and said the coming weeks would be spent analysing the season with patience and without reacting purely to results. The Italian coach acknowledged the Copa del Rey final defeat to Baskonia as a low point but noted the team had reached the EuroLeague final, where it lost 92-85 to Olympiacos on 24 May, and had led the ACB regular season.That is not a question for me. I have three years on my contract and that is a question for the club.
A club-wide trophy drought on election eve
The basketball team's exit means Real Madrid as a whole will end the 2025-26 season without a major trophy. The football section was eliminated by Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals, finished second in La Liga behind Barcelona, lost the Spanish Super Cup final to Barcelona, and was knocked out of the Copa del Rey by second-division Albacete in the round of 16. The last time both sections went trophyless in the same season was 2009-10. Club president Florentino Pérez, 79, and challenger Enrique Riquelme, 37, both attended Saturday's game at the Movistar Arena, one day before the presidential election.
Fans voice their discontent
When the final buzzer sounded, the home crowd at the Movistar Arena greeted the players with loud whistling. Many supporters had already begun leaving the arena before the game ended. The basketball section had lost three finals this season: the Supercopa to Valencia Basket, the Copa del Rey to Baskonia, and the EuroLeague to Olympiacos. The quarter-final exit, combined with a late-season run of seven defeats in the last eight ACB games, turned dissatisfaction into open anger.
- Lost Supercopa final to Valencia Basket
- Lost Copa del Rey final to Baskonia
- Lost EuroLeague final to Olympiacos (92-85)
- Lost ACB quarter-final Game 1 at home to La Laguna Tenerife (97-98)
- Won ACB quarter-final Game 2 away at La Laguna Tenerife (118-83)
- Lost ACB quarter-final Game 3 at home to La Laguna Tenerife (95-107), eliminated
