By Antigoni Zachari / info@eurohoops.net
A lot of peculiar incidents happen in the Greek League and there is always a surprise to expect. That is the case for Rick Pitino, who for the first time in his stint with Panathinaikos played against a team in an empty arena.
Peristeri hosted the Greens in a vacant hall, following the hosts’ punishment after physical fights happening between Aris and their fans a couple of weeks ago.
Prior to the game, Pitino mentioned that his team would play against Peristeri in an empty hall on his twitter, attaching a picture from the fight.
In a couple hours we will be playing our Greek league game at Perisderi without any fans. Here’s why the federation suspended fans from coming: pic.twitter.com/DDSN1rCqZP
— Rick Pitino (@RealPitino) March 31, 2019
This was not the first time the American coach was surprised during his time in Greece, following the unprecedented happenings in the Greek Cup semifinal with Olympiacos exiting the court, and later on, the Reds also skipping the Greek League game against their rivals.
After the game in Peristeri ended, Pitino spoke about all these happenings and added that he wouldn’t be surprised if there is more to that.
“I’ve now experienced things in my life I’ve never experienced before. We’ve experienced the Greek Cup with only children, a team at halftime not coming out, I experienced a forfeit away game, and now I experienced a game in an empty gym. So if we’re fortunate enough to play in the Greek finals, the only ones allowed to the gym are women from 25 to 40”.