By Aris Barkas
Maybe it’s mind games, maybe it’s pure bad blood, but for sure it’s more tense than any other personal rivalry in recent years. Nobody in Panathinaikos liked Vasilis Spanoulis decision in the summer of 2010, when he chose to sign in arch-rival Olympiacos and in the 6th of March 2012 for the first time Zeljko Obradovic showed publicly his feelings about his former player.
In a live chat with fans through the Greek sports portal Sport24.gr when Zoc was asked if he would say hello to Vasilis Spanoulis in case of a chance meeting in the street, he just replied: “No”.
Obradovic gave one more interview in the Greek website Contra.gr with his assistant Dimitris Itoudis translating in Greek. “No comment, there’s no need to talk about this”, was Obradovic’s reaction when he was asked about Spanoulis. The next question was if he wanted an apology from Spanoulis and Zoc was again not in the mood to talk: “I disagree with your question, there’s no point to it”.
Itoudis then started explaining what happened in the summer of 2010 and his version was not flattering for Spanoulis: “Panathinaikos was in talks with Spanoulis and the owners gave him a great offer in order to renew his contract that, in our opinion, covered his contribution to the team. He help us a lot, but also Panathinaikos helped him a lot. It was an amazing offer, a three years contract. We talk with the player, Zeljko spoke to him once in the 21th of June and Spanoulis told him that he liked the offer. I spoke to him also five, or six time and he seemed positive. After the 21th of June we were told that in three days he would make his decision and we will be informed about it from him personally. Spanoulis told me that after his discussions with the people that are close to him, like his family, he would call me and inform me. You know when he called me since then? Never! Spanoulis is a great player, he is our opponent now, but the personal relationships between us are a different subject. There must be ethics and principles. Zeljko and I try to have principles. If I say that I will call someone, then I must do it and not act like a rabbit. Everybody can reach their conclusions”.
Spanoulis replied after Tuesday game against Panionios and he was not very kind, specially to Itoudis: “In the two years that I am a player of Olympiacos I never wanted to provoke anybody. That’s my character and my principles. I see that the coaching staff of Panathinaikos is crossing the line, so I will speak two words and they will be my last. Zeljko Obradovic knows why I left Panathinaikos. Concerning Dimitris Itoudis, he knows me very well and he knows how I was raised by my family. I don’t climb in the back of others, I have learn to gain by myself what I deserve to gain. I will not speak again about this subject, this is where I stop”.