THE ANGELOPOULOS BROTHERS: Proud of the team
The London Final Four is going to be the fourth one during the Panagiotis and Giorgos Angelopoulos leadership time of the Club. The administrative leaders of the ‘reds’ spoke about the team’s new success following the end of the game against Anadolu Efes…
PANAGIOTIS ANGELOPOULOS: “Congratulations to the team and the fans. It was an incredible evening. I was crazy nervous during the first half and at the beginning of the second one. Congratulations
to the coach for achieving something like that for the first time. We are in the Final Four, this was the original goal, there is no pressure on us now, it’s all on CSKA”.
GIORGOS ANGELOPOULOS: “I would like to congratulate the coach, the players and the Olympiacos fans. I think what we achieved in immense. We have been in four Final Fours in the last five years and the way we qualified this year makes it all the greatest for us. We are proud for the team we have built. Once again I would like to congratulate the coach, he’s the leader of this team, he has heard a lot, a lot has been said during the season, but I guess this is only normal in basketball. Maybe the defeats we suffered helped the team in forging character and aiming high. We won nine away games this season, I think that it’s only Barcelona to have won ten. We have been in many European and Greek gyms and the team has been cheered upon, this is the Olympiacos we want to watch, this is the Olympiacos we want and we are proud of it”.
Q: Just before London, you have to go to Boston for a little while.
GIORGOS ANGELOPOULOS: Yes. We had talked about it with the coach in Istanbul; if I was to come then we should have to win this.
Q: Do you consider this achievement equal if not greater than last year’s, taking into account last season’s triumph?
PANAGIOTIS ANGELOPOULOS: We are now dealing with qualifying to the Final Four, last year we won the European title. On one point, this could be a yes to your question, on the other hand though there was a basic roster that got enriched with players that were missing last season like Perperoglou, who proved tonight why got him. For now there are pros and cons. For now, we have as semi - final ahead of us and we are focusing on it.
GIORGOS ANGELOPOULOS: We compare this season’s qualification to the Final Four with last season’s? I think it’s only equal, if not greater than last year’s. Nobody was expecting us last season, if we hadn’t qualified against Siena, nobody would have blamed us.
Q: The fans had been kind of hesitant last year and you seemed kind of bitter towards their attitude. Have you seen a different behavior this season?
PANAGIOTIS ANGELOPOULOS: We have been informed that Olympiacos has sold 1500 tickets for the Final Four on line. The Greeks of London are expecting for the European Champion to show up, we have no complaints. We are going to London to enjoy the experience.