Obradović: “Everyone trained as usual; only Rogavopoulos sat out.”

Panathinaikos held its final practice and, at the same time, its media day ahead of the game against Milan for EuroLeague Round 8.

Zeljko Obradović spoke to the media, discussing the conditions under which his team prepared, and also addressed the injury issues facing Panathinaikos, with one player sidelined.

“We have plenty of quality; right now we’re in a good position in the EuroLeague, but, as always, we have to be careful. We’re playing against a team that just had a tough game in Italy, so we need to play with focus for all 40 minutes of the game. I’ll say it again: we have a lot of quality on our team. We can demonstrate that with different lineups. I believe we need to focus a little more on ourselves and the way we play. Everyone was able to train; only Rogavopoulos sat out.”

Before leaving to continue the training session with his team, Obradović was asked about the elections in Serbia and the major political change that had taken place in the country. In the past, “Zoc” had spoken highly of the movement that had begun to take shape at that time, before it went on to win the country’s parliamentary elections.

“First of all, I’m very happy that people took to the streets and went out to vote in my homeland. People understand very well the situation prevailing in our country. People know my stance on the students; I want them to know that I’m happy and that I wish them the best, and to understand that our country must be democratic and that we must show the whole world that we are a proud people who know how to handle situations.”

Finally, on Saint Demetrius’s Day, he sent his best wishes to everyone with that name within the Panathinaikos organization.

“We have many Dimitris at Panathinaikos; I wish them all the best.”

Francisco spoke on behalf of the Panathinaikos players:

“We don’t want Milan’s losing streak against us to end. That’s why we need to stay focused; in the last two games, we didn’t play the way we wanted to. This is an opportunity for us; we need to be more focused and play better than in previous games. Every game provides extra motivation. If you let your opponent play, they’ll become a threat, just like they did against Baskonia.

If we play our game, we’ll win—that’s what we need to do. Our fans are important; their presence always helps us. In our last game, when we were going through a rough patch, they gave us a boost. It’s always good to set the tone right from the start of a game and not let the opponent find their rhythm, because once they do, it’s hard to stop them.

We’re trying to find our chemistry; the coach always knows what to do and brings out the best in us. And we have to give it our all. Nan and Sloukas’s return will help us; they need a little cardio (ed. note: laughter), but you’ve seen how much they help us. We have a full roster, but everyone’s having fun.”

*photo source: KYPE