Zeljko Obradovic congratulated Dimitris Priftis, Kavalas’ head coach, after the end of the game, and repeated the congratulations in the press conference, turning the attention to Panathinaikos as well: “Congratulations to Kavala and coach Priftis, not only for their performance, but also for the coaching feat. We faced a good team that respects itself, something that we did not do! When you are Panathinaikos you must not forget that! You have to be the way you must be in each and every game. With the exception of the first minutes into the game, we were not good at any other point of the game. If we manage to make the most of this defeat, it will be good for us for the rest of the games. I would like to add that the atmosphere was excellent and once again thank the Panathinaikos’ fans for being with us to show their support again.”
Kostas Kaimakoglou added: “Kavala deserves to be congratulated. It won fair and square and proved that the games on court are won by the players and not by the contracts. Unfortunately, we did not honor the jersey we put on and lost the game. I hope that we get to correct some things further down the road.”
Kavalas’ coach, Dimitris Priftis, underlined: “We lived a beautiful evening. We had a great victory against a truly great team that stands at the top of Europe and Greece in the past years. We were helped by the circumstances. Panathinaikos had a series of difficult games that involved a lot of travelling and this is something that normally wears a team out. We, on the other hand, had great fans that stood by our side again and I wish that we get this kind of atmosphere in every game. The fact that our long-range shots were successful and that we kept absolute focus on the game was very important. This victory must be properly handled. The championship is still at an early stage; a lot can happen. You see that this is a championship of real madness: some players leave, others come, and you do not know what tomorrow may bring. Our objective does not change: we are striving to remain in the division. It is this performance that we must repeat; I underline the performance, mind you, and not the victory.”
Christoforos Stefanidis, Kavala’s captain, added: “It was a historical victory for our team against the best European and Greek team of the past 15 years. We dedicate it to all those who stand by the team every day and to our fans, those who came to see us play against PAOK and AGOR, but also those who wanted to be with us but were unable to due to the financial situation.”
