The tension between them shows no sign of easing Panathinaikos And Maccabi Tel Aviv. Even in Race 2, between Dimitris Giannakoupoulos’ behavior and what happened in the locker room tunnel, there was no shortage of controversy. In the press conference Ergin Ataman shed light on the second situation, explaining what triggered his anger and that of some Pana players.
“It is very strange that an organization that I always protect makes a statement against me, saying that I damage the image of the EuroLeague. Very strange. If I do something wrong there is the referee’s report, you can punish me. Why make a statement? Why provoke people to come against me? Then it happens that when I go back to the locker room, some member of the Maccabi staff, I don’t know who because they didn’t have accreditation, tells me: ‘We’ll see in Israel, we’ll see what the Zionists will do to you!’. Come on, I’m Ergin Ataman. I am coach of Panathinaikos and the Turkish national team. I am a Turkish citizen. You can’t do anything to me!” the coach said in the press conferencehttps://twitter.com/Eurohoopsnet/status/1783608073040392492
The reference is to the statement with which the EuroLeague condemned the serious accusations made by Panathinaikos and by the Ataman himself towards the tournament and towards Maccabi Tel-Aviv, speaking of refereeing conditioned by politics. In any case, Maccabi will not be able to return to playing European matches at home until at least next year: the next two against Pana will take place in Serbia, on a neutral pitch, due to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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