By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Olympiacos won a close game in Milan with Evan Fournier and Sasha Vezenkov stealing the spotlight, but in the aftermath, there was time and space for comments about how the game was conducted.
After his first statement in the post-game press conference, Ettore Messina criticized the referees’ actions in the Unipol Forum tonight. “This is my sixth year and I’ve never made a comment on the referees of a game”, he opened before giving a behind-the-scene story on Nikola Mirotic.
“Last game, with Bayern, Nikola Mirotic, one of the classiest persons in the EuroLeague, on a call that was given to us, coach Herbert called for the challenge, told the referees to not waste their challenge because it was their ball. This is to tell you who Mirotic is”, he followed.
“Today, he was treated like the latest rookie in the EuroLeague, until he lost his mind. All of us, as a team and as a club, were treated as if we were EuroLeague rookies. That’s it”, Messina slammed the referees’ behavior. “I don’t want to gift money to the EuroLeague because they don’t deserve it. I prefer giving them to charity”, he replied when asked to make more comments, avoiding the fine.
Georgios Bartzokas’ view on how the game was conducted
Previously, Georgios Bartzokas was asked if the technical foul he received in the first half conditioned the way referees acted later on. “I didn’t make it on purpose, we tried to target [Nikola] Mirotic with [Moustapha] Fall on the post. I was sure there were two fouls before the travelling, that finally the referees called”, he first said.
“I didn’t externalize with a lot of words, just a small complaint. But the referees decided that. In the second half where was the same with Milan. If you say the technical foul was crucial for what happened, you can say they did the same”, he continued.
“Players are playing, making offensive and defensive plays, and fighting for the teams. I’m just on the bench to support”, Olympiacos‘ head coach also said, before touching on the team’s health issues.
“We lost Milutinov before the trip, and also Sasha Vezenkov was sick. He played with fever, we had to overcome this kind of issues to win over here. We did it. Milano always had the answer and responded when we wanted to finish the game. Finally, the game was solved with the last defense”, he said.
PHOTO CREDIT: EA7 Emporio Armani Mialn
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