By George Georgakopoulos

Olympiakos’s 82-81 victory against visiting Armani Milano on Friday proved irrelevant as Zalgiris beat Efes Pilsen in Lithuania and left the Reds in second upon the conclusion of their Euroleague group.

The game was on a knife’s edge from start to finish, with Armani being the better team in the first period, Olympiakos leading 45-38 at half-time, and the lead changing hands all the way till the end, although it did not matter anymore who would win this one.

However this was the seventh consecutive victory for Olympiakos in the Euroleague, who finished the first group stage with eights wins and two defeats. Armani got eliminated.

Notably former Olympiakos forward Yiannis Bourousis, who has been at Armani for a year and a half now, was jeered every time he picked up the ball.

There were also some clashes reported between Olympiakos fans and the police before the match.

In the second group stage, that begins on December 27, Olympiakos will be in the same pool as Maccabi Tel Aviv, Barcelona, Khimki, Siena, Besiktas, Fenerbahce Ulker and Caja Laboral.

In the other pool of the top-16 of the Euroleague Panathinaikos will come up against Real Madrid, Zalgiris, Malaga, CSKA Moscow, Anadolu Efes, Alba Berlin and Bamberg.

The Greens found out on Friday that they will be deprived of the services of injured Sofoklis Schortsanitis for the next 15 days at least.