ANGELOPOULOS BROTHERS: For us, they are the champions

The Presidents of Olympiacos, Panagiotis and Giorgos Angelopoulos spoke to the Nova cameras a few minutes following the end of the Final Four final against Real Madrid.

I think this is a night that no one should be shedding any tears for Olympiacos' defeat. Our team needs to be cheered upon for a huge effort, they played strong, they played in a tough home court and lost.
PANAGIOTIS ANGELOPOULOS: "What you said and even more is what we told our players in the locker room and what we want to tell you and the whole of Greece, that we are proud for our team, they played their third final in four years, the fourth final in the last six years and they are, based on results, the best European team in the last seven years. This is not disputed by anyone, it is recognized by the foreign Media, by all our opponents, we are proud, our team has actually played one final against CSKA two nights ago and they were lacking energy which was obvious within the game, this is a first assessment".

Let me ask you something, should this game have taken place in a different gym and not here, essentially in the opponent's home court, could the outcome have been different?
GIORGOS ANGELOPOULOS: "I think we would have won, it happened that we played a final away, in Madrid with so many fans on the other side, I believe that should it be another gym we could have won, without this meaning that the team had not 'emptied' after the epic triumph against CSKA. Everything is important, there is no disappointment, we told the guys they are the champions, they are the champions to us, they played excellent basketball that the whole of Europe admired, Real deserves to be congratulated, I don't know though if the kind of basketball they've been playing is worth of admiration. Olympiacos beat Barcelona this season three times, CSKA that has five times our budget here, Fener, Efes and we have actually beat all the teams, playing impressive basketball. So, we are proud for what the players have achieved".

So, in the 70's, when no one of us was watching basketball, due to age I mean. Varese had built a dynasty; they had played 10 finals and won five of them. What's the concept you have in your minds, you want Olympiacos to play as many finals as possible and win whenever possible?
PANAGIOTIS ANGELOPOULOS: "The goal is always the Final Four, next year we are going to try to be in Berlin, because we didn't make it there in 2009, it's a great opportunity to do better in Berlin next year".
We now have the Greek Championship in front of us, the season is not over yet, only the European one and if we take a more calm and realistic look at it, it's our only goal left so as to not finish the season empty handed".

GIORGOS ANGELOPOULOS: "What we said in the locker rooms, what the coach told the guys. That now the big goal is the championship, we should not lose focus, we are going for the championship".

It's early for any final assessment, we can only assess the European season, but I have the feeling that you've won a coach and at least two new players that is you introduced us to Sfairopoulos as a higher level coach, since we had already known him as a good coach, as well as Papapetrou and Agravanis. Are all of these a part of tomorrow's Olympiacos?
PANAGIOTIS ANGELOPOULOS: "All of these are true, Europe has witnessed them, Papapetrou was unlucky to enter the season halfway through it, that means I believe he could have been even better should he hadn't been injured and played from the beginning, the same goes for Agravanis, he had also been injured and was side lined for a couple of months, the team faced a lot of injuries in the season, maybe that was the reason we played the Euroleague play-offs without a home court advantage. And if you take a realistic look, the reason we hadn't made last season's Final Four had been the injuries of Spanoulis and Printezis that led to a disqualification in the fifth game in Madrid, once again without home court advantage. But like you said before, we are starting with the play-offs Thursday, that's what the coach has said in the locker rooms, we want the fans to show their support, their love and pride for this team, regardless if we play the first game against Amaliada. This is a starting course towards the championship; this should be the next message".  

Your message to the Olympiacos' fans that are watching and listening right now?
GIORGOS ANGELOPOULOS: "I'd like to thank the Olympiacos fans that were here, they were amazing, they came from all over the world, from Australia, from the States, from everywhere, and their support has been overwhelming. The message right now is 'let's get the championship' and we should be proud of the team we have built. I think that we all haven't yet realized what Olympiacos has achieved, I think that when we calm down, we will".

The unfortunate fact is that history is being written by the winners, you had done that in the previous season, but now the winners are others…
GIORGOS ANGELOPOULOS: "We told the players that they are the real champions based on the kind of basketball they played, considering the problems they had faced and all the given facts, so we have written history in Europe, Olympiacos has written history, is the most successful team in Europe in the last seven years, even today. So history is bound to be written, we'll have to see about the future. You can never know".

PANAGIOTIS ANGELOPOULOS: "The important thing is to be in Berlin, this is going to once again place us among the European elite, and this is the goal. Reaching the Final in Madrid and losing it after having disqualified CSKA in the semis is only basketball. And if you consider what Real Madrid means, what's behind them, the budgets, who's financing them and you still succeed and play a final in their home court and they win while they had lost twice in a row and haven't won a title in 20 years, is that disappointment? I mean it can't be that we don't have a rival in Europe"