Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv will open a difficult double EuroLeague week on Tuesday when they visit Real Madrid at the Movistar Arena (9:45 PM Israel time). The yellow-and-blue team has already defeated the Blancos earlier this season but knows that the challenge is much greater in the Spanish capital, especially given the current form of their opponent.

Maccabi arrives with a full roster, as Jasiel Rivero has returned from an injury that sidelined him for over a month. Oded Kattash and his players know that after the game in Madrid, they face a flight to Paris, where they will meet Tiago Splitter’s surprising team.

After a very disappointing start to the season, including a 6-9 record, Chus Mateo’s squad has hit their stride in recent weeks, winning five consecutive games in the EuroLeague. This success is due to the return of several key players from injury and an improvement in the performance of Bosnian scorer Dzanan Musa, who has averaged 15.2 points per game during this winning streak.

As always, Real relies on a star-studded roster capable of deciding games, including Croatian forward Mario Hezonja (13.9 points per game), Argentine floor general Facundo Campazzo (13 points and 7.2 assists per game), Cape Verdean giant Walter Tavares (9.8 points and 7.9 rebounds per game), as well as seasoned veterans Serge Ibaka and Sergio Llull. One player who will be unavailable for Mateo against Maccabi is Gabriel Deck, who contributes nearly 10 points per game but is currently injured.

“We approach every game with the same mentality,” stated Roman Sorkin ahead of Maccabi’s flight to Spain. “We are Maccabi Tel Aviv; we want to win every game. It’s no secret that this hasn’t been an easy period for us—two of our games weren’t great, but that’s in the past. We want to erase that, have a strong double week, and keep improving. We still have a long season ahead.”