The stage is set for a classic Greek-Turkish battle in the 2016-17 Euroleague basketball final, as Turkish Fenerbache, who beat Real Masdrid late Friday (84-75) will face Greek champions Olympiakos who disposed of CSKA Moscow (82-78) in another thriller.
Olympiakos will be facing their final-4 nemesis in the form of Fenerbache coach Zeljko Obradovic, who has never lost in either a semi-final of final against the team from Piraeus. Obradovic has recorded two wins in a final and one in a semi-final against the Greek team. In 1994 Obradovic’s Joventut Badalona defeated Olympiakos in the final (59-57), while he repeated his feat in the following year’s final as coach of Real Madrid (73-61) against the reds. In the 2009 semi-final Obradovic came on top again, this time as coach of Olympiakos’s Greek arch rivals Panathinaikos (84-82). But when it comes to the two teams head to head history, Olympiakos appear to be on top, as the reds have 12 wins in the 20 matches against Fenerbache. An interesting statistic is the fact that the Greek champions have prevailed in 7 of their 10 matches on Turkish soil. A Turkish team has never lifted the most coveted trophy in European club basketball, while Greece has a total of 9 Euroleague titles with Panathinaikos having conquered it 6 times and Olympiakos 3.