By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Two former Panathinaikos figures were present at the Athenian Metropolis ahead of Thanasis Giannakopoulos’ funeral, Zeljko Obradovic and Vassilis Spanoulis both in attendance to bid their last goodbye.
Former Panathinaikos player and current Olympiacos captain Spanoulis received warm applause from fans that were also attending the pilgrimage of late Giannakopoulos, a moment captured by leoforos.gr.
Obradovic, too, traveled from Istanbul to Athens to attend the funeral and also received a huge applause himself. His former assistant Dimitris Itoudis also made it to Athens and former Panathinaikos coach Xavi Pascual did the same.
A few days prior, the Fenerbahce coach opened up about his relationship with Thanasis Giannakopoulos. “Ηe was a great person that helped me all the time and not only me. He helped everyone he worked with. They will always be in our hearts”.
Xavi Pascual also arrived in the Greek capital, later on, to support Panathinaikos’ family on this day. Panathinaikos legends Dimitris Diamantidis, Dejan Bodiroga, Ibo Kutluai members of the current teams and other former players and coaches of the Greens were also present.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Greek president Prokopis Pavlopoulos also attended the ceremony and FIBA Europe executive director Kamil Novak represented the international basketball federation.
