By Antigoni Zachari / info@eurohoops.net
Dimitris Giannakopoulos spoke to Sport 24 radio of Greece about the ongoing saga between Panathinaikos and EuroLeague.
“We’re very displeased with EuroLeague. They don’t treat us with respect, both in the court and in terms of disciplinary actions. I hope that we’ll find a solution. A change in the stance for Panathinaikos is required for Mr. Bertomeu. We require a change and respect.”
Panathinaikos’ owner commented on the possibility of leaving the EuroLeague: “In case we leave the EuroLeague, the financial drop will be huge. Respect and modesty are above everything though. If we have to leave, we will suffer for a bit but we’ll figure things out. I think that we won’t have to get to that point. The thing is, EuroLeague has to understand its mistakes and fix its regime-like attitude since through conversation everything can be sorted out.”
Giannakopoulos claimed that Panathinaikos is willing to settle things down: “EuroLeague has to take back all the fines that were issued to me after my reactions on Instagram. It all began with an unfair fine. If all these fines are dropped, we [Panathinaikos] will be able to take not one, but many steps back. If EuroLeague aims for the best, a solution should be reached”.
He finally commented on the playoffs series against Real Madrid, giving props to the Spanish club: “We had to win both playoff games in our home court, we didn’t succeed. From that point on, there were some issues outside the court. I think we deserved to be in the Final Four”.
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