Panathinaikos’ victory in Madrid, which handed Real Madrid their first home defeat of the EuroLeague regular season, boosted the club’s confidence, said Ergin Ataman at a press conference ahead of tomorrow’s final (26/5, 9pm) with the “Queen “.
“We are very happy that after years Panathinaikos will play in the final. Personally, I’m happy that, after an off season last year, we meet Real again in the final. Congratulations to Real, they are a great team. But we believe in ourselves. I hope for a great game”Ataman initially commented.
“Yesterday the atmosphere was terrible. We in the team like this support. We all say we have to take advantage, this is what we have to do in the final and we will see the result. I’m happy that people respect me and my players”.
Referring to Panathinaikos’ “double” in Madrid, in the regular season, he said: “We can’t compare this game, it was after the national team break. For us, all the great victories we had, against great teams, in crucial games, like the ones we had against Maccabi, are important. Real is a great team. Tomorrow everything will be different. We can’t compare anything with the final”.
When asked when he realized that the “greens” could become European champions, he replied: “It was the game against Real. When we beat them at home, for the first time this year, we gained confidence. We understand what we can do, we think about Final-4″.
Commenting on the possible back-to-back that Chus Mateo could do with Real, he said: “Let me tell you something funny… Matteo wants to have each other’s backs, but I don’t want to give it to him. I’m the last one to achieve this, this will be a motivation for me”.
Regarding the fact that he is the first Turkish coach of a foreign team in a Euroleague final, he commented: “I’m very proud. Many Turkish fans support their team. There were expectations from Turkish journalists regarding Fener, but I will be the only Turk in the final.
Turkish citizens supported me, since yesterday I received hundreds of messages of support from friends at Efes, Fener, Galatasaray. I wish Galatasaray good luck for the rest of the season.
My friends at Panathinaikos believed in me from the beginning. I was very successful before coming here and I’m trying to pass that knowledge on to Panathinaikos. We are not thinking now about the reception in Athens, but we want the title”.
In the questions he received after the press conference, the Turkish coach seemed confident of winning the title.
“We will have around 10 thousand people and it will be like playing at OAKA. It will be very important because at OAKA we lost one or two games”he said speaking to Nova’s camera.
“We came here with the energy of the people. I am sure that we will win for the people of Panathinaikos. Write it down, I’m sure. If we play like we did in the OAKA environment, you will see that we will win. Our team and organization deserve it”.