Olympiacos and Fenerbahçe joined Real Madrid and Panathinaikos on Wednesday in the Final Four of the Euroleague basketball, organized from May 24 to 26 in Berlin.
The Istanbul club, who beat Monaco (80-79) in the Principality, became the first team to qualify away from home in a fifth quarter-final match of the competition since 2009 and the introduction of this format in best of five matches. The 19 teams in this situation had always taken the exit before. In the process, Olympiacos imitated the Turks by winning over Barcelona (63-59) in the final match of their series.
The Piraeus club, outgoing finalist, will face its tormentor, Real Madrid in the semi-final. As for Fenerbahçe, for its return to the last four for the first time in five years, it inherits the “Pana”, which returns to the Final Four twelve years later at the cost of a gleaming recruitment of ex-NBA residents (Nunn and J. Hernangomez) or European references (Sloukas, Lessort) to reconnect with his great years.
Six times crowned in C1, but not since 2011, the Greek giant even attracted to its bench the Turk Ergin Ataman, architect of the Efes Istanbul double (2021 and 2022).
