Final Four takes place in Berlin with Greek flavor

Basketball’s EuroLeague Final Four begins on Friday at the Uber Arena in Berlin with the participation of two Greek powerhouses, Panathinaikos and Olympiakos.

Panathinaikos, guided by Turkish coach Ergin Ataman, will face Turkey’s Fenerbahce, before Olympiacos goes head to head with defending champion Real Madrid in a rematch of last season’s final.

“We don’t think about what happened last year, we will give our best as a club and as a team. We’re fighters,” said Olympiakos coach Giorgos Bartzokas, while Real Madrid coach Chus Mateo said, “We’re not focusing on that in the locker room.”

Ataman promised that Panathinaikos, who have six titles under their belt, will clinch a seventh. But they must get past Fenerbahce, whose coach Sarunas Jasikevicius commented: “We try to take it day by day. We try, we try, we try. We put the product on the court and hopefully, things will work out.”