Anadolu Efes Spor Kulübü vs. FC Barcelona Bàsquet Prediction on November 20, 2025

Match info

For Turkey’s Anadolu Efes Spor Kulübü, the round 12 match of the 2025–26 EuroLeague against Spain’s FC Barcelona Bàsquet is almost a mini “must-win”. For “Barça”, this is a chance to stay in the safe top-6 zone and avoid, for now, play-in danger in the 26th season of the modern era of the premier European men's professional basketball club competition.

After 11 rounds, Efes are 16th at 4–7 with a –34 differential, so dropping to 4–8 would leave them chasing the play-in line with very little margin for error. On the other hand, Barcelona sit sixth at 7–4 with a tiny positive point differential (+1). Add in the long, nearly even historic rivalry between these clubs, and this becomes one of the key fixtures of round 12.

Efes vs Barcelona is scheduled for Thursday, November 20, 2025, at 17:30 Turkey Time (TRT, local time) at Turkcell Basketbol Gelişim Merkezi – Efes’s Istanbul base, a tighter, more intimate arena than Sinan Erdem Dome, which tends to amplify the home-court feel when the team is rolling.

Meeting statistics

Current form and & playstyle: Anadolu Efes Spor Kulübü

Efes come into round 12 with a record that’s well below their recent EuroLeague peak, but they’ve just picked up a badly needed win over Bayern Munich – a tight 74–72 game where the German team’s last-second three to steal it rimmed out. A dramatic win in round 11 underlines how close Efes’ margin for error has become.

The roster profile explains a lot: it’s still a guard- and wing-driven team, with Shane Larkin as primary creator and Isaïa Cordinier, Nick Weiler-Babb, Rolands Šmits, and Ercan Osmani contributing around him. The summer brought in more athleticism and shooting (e.g., Cole Swider, Jordan Loyd) as part of a broader overhaul. Efes’ offense leans heavily on pick-and-roll with Larkin, spacing the floor with shooters, and asking wings to attack close-outs. When the ball pops, Efes can look like their old, free-flowing selves; when it sticks, they fall into a lot of difficult late-clock jumpers.

Defensively, the team has been inconsistent. The –34 point differential (886 scored, 920 conceded) and a 4–7 record with 3–7 over their last 10 show they tend to give up big runs and struggle to finish games, even when they build small leads. The positive sign is that Cordinier was Round 11 MVP, a hint that his two-way energy is starting to tilt games in their favour. If that continues, Efes will become much more dangerous around Larkin’s shot-making.

Current form & playstyle: FC Barcelona Bàsquet

Barcelona arrive in Istanbul in much better shape, which made sites for the best basketball betting online give them shorter moneyline odds, i.e., they are favored to win the match. They’re just coming off a solid 88–81 win over Virtus Bologna in round 11, part of a tough Spanish EuroLeague jornada that saw “Barça” stand out positively while Valencia and Real Madrid fell.

The 2025 summer reshaped the roster into a bruising but skilled group: the club added Tornike Shengelia and Will Clyburn on the wings, and brought in pieces like Myles Cale and Miles Norris to deepen the rotation, while keeping core guards Kevin Punter, Nicolás Laprovittola, and Tomáš Satoranský, plus bigs Jan Veselý and Willy Hernangómez.

On the floor, that translates into a balanced, half-court-oriented offense. They like to attack mismatches through Clyburn and Shengelia in the post or on the elbows, then let Punter and Laprovittola punish rotations from three. Early-season results show them winning games with well-spaced, methodical sets rather than a crazy pace – for example, in the round 1 opener vs Hapoel Tel Aviv, Barcelona scored 86 with Clyburn leading in points and Satoranský orchestrating.

Defensively, “Barça” are solid but not airtight: they’ve given up 947 points in 11 games (roughly 86 ppg), only barely outscoring opponents by +1 overall. Their strength is versatility – they can switch across several positions thanks to Clyburn, Shengelia, and Parra, and they still have classic rim protection in Veselý/Fall/Hernangómez – but they can be vulnerable in transition and sometimes struggle guarding ultra-quick guards.

Head-to-head

EuroLeague’s match center lists the all-time series between Efes and Barcelona since 2000 at 32 matches, with Barcelona holding the slim 17–15 edge in total wins. It’s one of those rivalries that’s been essentially 50-50 over two decades, with several playoff series and a famous Final Four clash.

Match analytics

Primary lean: Barcelona moneyline (outright win). If the market prices “Barça” around a small road favourite (for example, in the ~1.75–1.90 range), that would fairly reflect their better record, deeper roster, and Efes’ defensive inconsistency. Totals will depend on the posted number, but given both teams hover around the mid-80s offensively with some defensive swings, anything in the low- to mid-160s would be close to a coin flip rather than a strong edge either way.

Tip: Total (incl. OT), Under 168.5 at 1.95 odds on Mr Bit.