Bartzokas: "Congratulations to the players and the fans"

Olympiacos’ coach gave congratulated everyone involved in the sweeping victory against Panathinaikos, however, he was set to tone down feelings in view of the difficult games ahead.

“Congratulations to my players and our fans. Before the game started, it had been a complicated one for us. We had only had one day and a short practice to prepare the players. Also, we had spent too much energy in the game at Kaunas – trip included – so how much energy we were left for last night’s game remained to be answered. Of course, the motivation in games like those against Panathinaikos is always tremendous. Especially for our fans, that ‘push’ our players to play strong. But, at the same time, it was simply one game and one win for the regular season. We have to keep in mind that we still have three games to play and especially the one that follows in France against Monaco is very hard”.  

On his part, the coach of Panathinaikos, Dimitris Priftis, pointed out: “It is obviously a very difficult night for us. The way we came on the floor in the first quarter was simply tragic and despite putting in effort in the next three, when we somewhat balanced the score, that first quarter performance was so bad that would not allow us to seek anything better from the game”.