Political and Harsh Statement from Panathinaikos: “We Witnessed an Ugly Operation”

By Eurohoops team / [email protected]

The playoff adventure in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague started with two matches played last night. Panathinaikos lost the first match against Maccabi Tel Aviv 87-91 in front of a packed OAKA stands.

After the match, coach Ergin Ataman made statements that had great repercussions regarding his future at the club. Now Panathinaikos club has published a harsh text on social media, including political allegations.

Coach Ataman about the referee performance after the match: “We didn’t play well, but there were two ridiculous fouls for Maccabi’s two three-pointers. “I don’t understand this, it’s not fair to give Baldwin six issues out of the blue.” he said.

In the statement published by Panathinaikos, the following statements were made:

“Unfortunately, once again, while we have come to the most critical part of the season in the EuroLeague and have made a great effort to raise Panathinaikos to the highest level, we witnessed an ugly operation that reminds us of the days when we were massacred during the Jordi Bertomeu era.

We do not want to believe that the tragic events taking place in the world (what happened in Russia, Ukraine, Palestine and Israel) that deeply sadden us all can affect professional basketball.

However, unfortunately, the obvious mistakes made yesterday prevent us from considering another reason.

Sports should never be used to heal wounds and the pain of people’s situations, and it’s clear that basketball should stay away from all of this.

Panathinaikos has shown how much it loves basketball, not only this year but throughout its history, and has always functioned with the development of the sport in mind.

Our club has also continued its game with the sweat of its athletes, the emotions of its millions of fans, the amounts invested and the huge effort made; When he fell, he got up and continued to fight until the end, without thinking about what would happen in the end.

Panathinaikos’ 116-year history is perhaps even older than some states. “Finally, we expect due respect and demand an end to the underestimation of the situation.”

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