By Lefteris Moutis
Before you make your plans for this year’s final four, be warned that history repeats itself. And if you don’t know what happened twenty years ago in Istanbul’s first final four see the video. Now, you are ready for the really bad news (except of course, if you are a fan of Panathinaikos). Zeliko Obradovic wants to celebrate this anniversary with one more title.
As he said himself in a live chat through the Greek sports portal Sport24.gr: “I want my favorite final four to be the one in Istanbul. But the one of 2012 and not of 1992”. Twenty years ago, in his first season as a coach, the now legendary Zoc led Partizan Belgrade to the European crown with an upset in the final game against the heavy favorite Joventud Badalona.
So, I guess that you know what usually happens when Obradovic, an eight times Euroleague champion, gets to the final four. But still, he can hold a grudge. When he was asked if he would say hello to Vasilis Spanoulis, a former player of him and now a fierce opponent, in case of a chance meeting in the street, he just replied: “No”.
He did laugh thought, when he was asked one more time if he and Dimitris Diamantidis will continue their career in Real Madrid, leaving Panathinaikos this summer. “Ask Diamantidis for this”, he replyed.