Zeljko Obradovic congratulated the team of Rethymnon after the end of the game, while he was also asked about the statements made by Vaggelis Aggelou.
“It is never easy to play immediately after a final, since it is not easy for one to adjust and be ready. Let alone when you are facing a team that plays absolutely differently than all other teams. Today we played …their game; and I must congratulate them because they played very well. And they played basketball, whereas many teams come to the OAKA to play with the clock. Every mistake we made at the beginning they would punish it. I am satisfied because my players tried both in offense and defense. This was one of the best games in the A1 Division this season. It is good for Greek basketball to have teams like Rethymnon.”
Obradovic was then asked about the comments made by Dusan Ivkovic’s assistant in Olympiakos, regarding Aleks Maric and Panathinaikos: “I would like to make a comment about someone who deserves commenting them. His opinion is zero to me. So I do not want to answer. I do not want to make any comment whatsoever.”
Stratos Perperoglou, in his turn, noted: “First of all, I would like to congratulate Rethymnon not only for their course so far, but also for their performance today. At the beginning we were not very focused. We were coming after the Cup final and so we must increase our concentration for the upcoming games.”
Rethymnon coach, Stergios Koufos, said: “First of all, we must congratulate Panathinaikos for winning the Cup. On our side, we have managed to handle the rotation well this season, so as to be able to hide our weaknesses and respond well to the games, but when you play against a team of this caliber it can completely demolish you and this is not something you can hide. You cannot turn yourself into…David Copperfield to mask your weaknesses against such a team. I was unhappy about our defense and I said so in the locker-room too. We must now learn to handle the fact that we are no longer a team that is trying to save itself from being expelled from the division. We began with a very low budget and if Maroussi was in a better condition too, it would not have been easy to even remain in the A1 division. I just follow my players’ will. If they continue to show the same willingness, I will follow them too.”
Akis Kallinikidis notes: “Congratulations to Panathinaikos both for their victory and for winning the Greek Cup. We came here to play as the ones holding the fourth spot in the ranking. This was our rational getting into the game and I believe that in the beginning we supported it. Then Panathinaikos blew our weaknesses out of the water. In such a game, you cannot afford to relax even for a single second. In any case, we gained a lot from this game and I think we will be ready for the game against Kolossos on Saturday, which is the most important game for us at this stage.”
