Football News

Luka Doncic was greeted by an old face as he took to the court to prepare for his latest Dallas Mavericks outing on Friday night.

Prior to their NBA playoff game against the LA Clippers, the Mavs superstar shared a warm embrace with Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, who headed to Dallas' American Airlines Center to watch his former basketball player in action.

Doncic, one of the top talents in the NBA today, began his professional career in Spain with Perez's Real Madrid before leaving for the big league in 2018.

During his time in Madrid he rubbed shoulders with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo while earning the nickname 'The Boy Wonder', a result of becoming the youngest-ever winner of the EuroLeague’s MVP award last season.

Now Doncic is widely considered one of the greatest European players of all time, and Perez was keen to watch him in the flesh once more.

Back in October, the Slovenian point guard returned to Madrid for a preseason game against his old team, where he was presented with an award from Perez as an honorary member of the club while receiving a standing ovation.

After their brief reunion at courtside before the game, Doncic put up 22 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists in a 101-90 victory over LA which moved his Dallas team 2-1 ahead in their five-game first-round playoff series.

The Mavs rode the same defense that gave them home-court advantage with a Game 2 victory in LA, and won in Dallas three years after losing all three first-round games on their floor in a seven-game loss to the Clippers. Game 4 is Sunday in Dallas.

An already testy game reached a boiling point midway through the fourth quarter on Friday when LA's Russell Westbrook slung Doncic around after fouling him.

Westbrook was called for a

Cristiano Ronaldo Florentino Perez Real Madrid