Fenerbahçe reach Euroleague Final Four after beating Real Madrid

There will be a new Euroleague champion after Fenerbahçe Ülker defeated Real Madrid 63-75 to sweep the champs and advance to the Final Four. Madrid will miss the Final Four after three straight championship appearances



Istanbul giants Fenerbahçe advanced to the Euroleague Final Four after beating defending champions Real Madrid 75-63 in their third playoff match in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Playoffs on Tuesday.

The 75-63 win in the Spanish capital followed two victories against Real in Istanbul in a best-of-five fixture.

Fenerbahçe played a solid defensive game throughout the game, limiting Real to 63 points.

The Turkish side's Ekpe Udoh finished the game with 15 points and 12 rebounds while Bogdan Bogdanovic contributed 17 points.

Fenerbahçe will travel to Berlin alongside CSKA Moscow, Laboral Kutxa and either Barcelona or Lokomotiv Kuban for the final four games between May 13 and 16.

During their second playoffs in Istanbul on Thursday, Fenerbahçe put on a show for their fans at the Ülker Sports Arena by dominating Real Madrid 100-78 to take a 2-0 lead in their best-of-five Turkish Airlines Euroleague Playoffs series.

Fenerbahçe, who lost to Real in last year's semi-finals, look a different prospect this season and one capable of becoming the first Turkish side to win Europe's premier club competition.

Fenerbahçe coach Zeljko Obradovic has used 11 different starters and 15 players overall in Euroleague games so far this season. No player has started every game. Zeljko Obradovic coached Real Madrid head coach Pablo Laso at Madrid for two seasons during the mid-1990s. They won the 1997 Saporta Cup together. Fenerbahçe's Ekpe Udoh leads the league in blocked shots with 2.1 per game; Udoh has blocked at least one shot in 12 straight Euroleague games. Udoh was a team-mate of Real Madrid's Gustavo Ayon during the 2012-13 NBA season with the Milwaukee Bucks.