The Panathinaikos coach criticizes the Euroleague for the statement against him as a trigger
MADRID, 26 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Panathinaikos coach, Ergin Ataman, reported this Thursday that he had been threatened by a member of the Maccabi expedition after the Greek team’s victory in the second match of the Euroleague playoff, the same day that the organization of the competition opened an investigation and released a statement against him and his club.
“It is very strange for me that a big organization, which I always protect, has made a statement about me saying that I am damaging the image of the Euroleague. Very strange. If I do something wrong, like when I talk about the referees, there is a penalty in the regulations,” he said at the press conference at OAKA.
Panathinaikos took the second game to tie a series that will now be played at Aleksandar Nikolic Hall in Belgrade, where Maccabi is playing this campaign at home due to the Arab-Israeli conflict. After the defeat in the first match, Ataman was very critical of certain refereeing decisions, but the Greek team went further with a statement harshly attacking the organization and ensuring that “flagrant errors” make them think that the situation is influencing the situation. He is living in Israel.
The Euroleague reported Thursday of the opening of “disciplinary procedures” against the coach and the club, an institutional response that, according to Ataman, caused the threat that he revealed after the second game this Thursday. “Why do they make a statement against me? Now, what’s happening, they provoke some people against me. Someone from the Maccabi staff, when I was going to the locker room, I don’t know who, I was without accreditation, told me: ‘You’ll see in Israel , you will see what the Zionists will do to you,'” he noted.