Final Four grudge match

The best offence in Europe takes on the best defence when hosts Maccabi take on CSKA Moscow in the marquee encounter of the Final Four in Tel Aviv on Thursday. Follow along with eurosport.com with the first encounter - Montespaschi Siena against Skipper B

Eurosport

Image credit: TNT Sports

Gone are defending champions Barcelona, 2003 finalists Benetton Treviso, and strong outsiders like Zalgiris Kaunas.

Maccabi Tel Aviv will need the full support of their home crowd to reach their Grail.

The Israeli side made it by the skin of their teeth, hosting Zalgiris Kaunas in the last day of the second group phase. Thanks to a miraculous three-pointer by Derrick Sharp, they reached overtime to finally book their berth for home party.

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By stark contrast, CSKA Moscow were the first team to qualify for the Final Four after dominating their group.

Home court advantage? Not exactly. The two sides met twice in the first group phase and both teams won away in two classic showdowns.

Led by Theo Papaloukas and Marcus Brown, CSKA are top gunners in Europe whereas Maccabi's defence, led by Lithuania's Euro 2003 hero Sarunas Jasikevicius, is the most efficient one.

Observers paint the winner of this clash as favourites for the European title.

ITALIAN DERBY

Meanwhile, the two Italian sides are also hungry for glory.

Siena discovered the Final Four last year and this time, they want to go further than the third place.

Skipper Bologna aim to lift the trophy for their first attempt. The two teams know each other perfectly well as they have already faced off four times this season (twice in Euroleague, twice in the Italian league). Each side has won twice.

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All-Italian affair in Final Four

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