The tension between clubs is getting more intense by the day in the Euroleague, as CSKA Moscow has officially asked Euroleague to play all their future OAKA games behind closed doors.
Everything started last week during Panathinaikos-CSKA Moscow game when in the last minutes of the games some home fans started throwing objects and spitting at CSKA Moscow’s bench because someone sitting there was filming the crowd. {jathumbnail off}
After the game ended, The Greens sent an official complaint letter to Euroleague, paralleling CSKA Moscow’s favourable treatment by the refs to the one Steaua football club enjoyed by the Ceausescu regime in Romania.
After last night’s Barcelona 72-70 Panathinaikos results, Panathinaikos threatened Euroleague not to even show up for the Game 2 of the playoffs series and this morning the Panathinaikos’ president owned sports newspaper “Prasini” called Euroleague a “whore” in a full page cover and calling for the Euroleague Referees Director’s bank account to be audited.
The complaints were initially expressed by the club’s official twitter feed, as we reported last night.
As if that wasn’t enough to embarrass the competition, CSKA Moscow sent an official document to Euroleague, not only complaining about the hostile environment (“war-like”) they came across in OAKA, but invoking judicial authority asking for Panathinaikos to play their next few games behind closed doors, as well as all future games vs CSKA Moscow in Athens behind closed doors too.
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The Greek clubs is expected to officially reply to CSKA Moscow’s request shortly, and we will post it in a future article. However it is extremely unlikely that serious sanctions will be imposed on the former Euroleague champions, as their 10,875 average attendance is the fourth best in a league which strives for big attendances.
This comes as a continuation of strained relationships between the two clubs, following the events of the Berlin 2009 Final Four and Istanbul 2012 Final Four.
In the meantime, Barcelona’s coach Xavi Pascual wished Barcelona gets the same treatment in OAKA, as Panathinaikos did in Palau Blaugrana last night, while the club’s General Manager Joan Creus called for the refs to be left alone and do their jobs.
Euroleague Referees Director, Costas Rigas, has declined to comment on the latest developments.
