Historic triumphs and bitter moments: Olympiakos’ 11 Final 4s

From tears of frustration to tears of unspeakable joy, Olympiakos’ Final 4 appearances are an emotional rollercoaster. And what has he not experienced in these eleven appearances in the final phase of the Euroleague in just under 29 years. From the incredible bitterness of the collapse in 1993, to the epic of 2012 and from the first triumph in 1997, to last year’s coolness.

After Tel Aviv, Zaragoza, Rome, Munich, Berlin, City, London, Madrid and Belgrade, Kaunas is this time the city that will house the red and white dreams of the fourth European trophy. sport-fm.gr takes a look back at the previous participations of Olympiakos in the Final 4.

Tel Aviv 1994: The first ever derby and Paspali’s missed shots

Olympiakos’ maiden participation in the Final 4 left a bittersweet taste. In an event where a terrible … wood fell between the two “eternals” outside the field of play, after fans of the two Greek teams descended on Tel Aviv, the “red and whites” defeated Panathinaikos in their maiden European meeting (77-72).

In the final, although the team of Giannis Ioannidis came within a breath of the cup, but Cornelius Thompson’s three-pointer turned out to be a knife in the heart (57-59), Zarko Paspali failed to hit the critical shots and thus the mission to Greece on leave hands.

Zaragoza 1995: Again the upper hand in the “eternal” derby but… Sabonis

Just one year later and there was no lack of common incidents with Israel. The off-court battles between Olympiakos and Panathinaikos fans again had their fair share, with Piraeus once again being the big winners in the semi-final (58-52)! The big three-pointers from Eddie Johnson and Milan Tomic had overturned the 50-52 with which the “greens” had entered the last two minutes.

In the final, however, they had the huge misfortune of meeting the magical Real of the fantastic Arvindas Sabonis who “cleaned up” for the Madrilenians (61-73).

Rome 1997: Rivers and the sensational first European

“In Rome and in the final, we lifted the European Cup” says the slogan of Olympiakos fans and that’s exactly what happened. A year after the first star of Panathinaikos, Dusan Ivkovic’s team made a joke all over Europe! The first victim was Olympia Ljubljana in the semi-final (74-65) and of course the… greatest achievement, the dragging of Barcelona to the grand final by the “alien” David Rivers who made every basketball fan talk with his “orgies”.

Munich 1999: Surprise victim of the supersonic Zalgiris

The downward trend may have slowly set in, but Olympiacos was back in the Final 4. Its presence ended ingloriously and early, as the big surprise Zalgiris threw it out of the semi-final (71-87) despite its good performance Dragan Tarlacs, with the Lithuanians of Jonas Kazlauskas shortly after lifting the cup. The only consolation was the third place that came in the victorious minor final with Fortitudo Bologna (74-63).

Berlin 2009: The bitter defeat by Panathinaikos in a match

After 10 years of absence, Olympiacos of the Angelopoulos now and of the new era returned to the elite, but could not compete with perhaps the best team that Panathinaikos has ever presented in its history. The defeat of Panagiotis Giannakis’ team in the semi-final final (84-82), the lost attack of Yiannis Bourousis and the “10 days” towards the “green” fans in the lost minor final (95-79) by Barcelona, ​​completed a bad three days for the people of Piraeus.

Paris 2010: Childress saviour, but Barcelona were not playing

With its roster probably the most expensive of all time, Olympiacos with many thousands of fans, went to France to be at the top. In the semi-final, Josh Childress saved the team of Panagiotis Giannakis against Partizan with a follow-up nail and a little later sent them to the final (83-80).

But Xavi Pascual’s Barcelona proved invincible, with Juan Carlos Navarro at his best and the Catalans reaching the cup with a walk (68-86).

Istanbul 2012: The unsurpassed saga of Ivkovic’s “babies”

Having put aside the exorbitant sums and with a different philosophy, a handful of mainly not so experienced athletes led by the great Vassilis Spanoulis are shocking Europe. Kill Bill puts on a show in the semi-final against Barca Navarro (68-64)…

while in the final he gives the assist for Giorgos Printezis’ five-pointer that turned a lost match against the Russians (62-61) and gave the cup to… the babies of the late Dusan Ivkovic in the City!

London 2013: The back-to-back with Bartzokas as guide

With Giorgos Bartzokas now in charge of the fortunes of the European champions, the team that made some but not huge changes to its roster, achieves the impossible. First he drags the mighty CSKA to the semi-final (69-52) with a defense for a seminar…

…and then in the final she gives another unique performance dominating this time through her attack. Vassilis Spanoulis wakes up in the second half, scores 100 points in Real and Olympiacos makes the back-to-back that will be remembered forever!

Madrid 2015: Bend at the home of Real

“Agios” Georgios Printezis sends Olympiakos to the Final 4 in Madrid, where things are not easy. Vassilis Spanoulis once again makes all of basketball Europe bow to his greatness and CSKA see ghosts (70-68) and gives Piraeus a chance for the title.

There, however, the home team Real has no desire to give to Yannis Sfeiropoulos’ team and despite the effort, a heavy defeat by Pablo Lasso’s team cannot be avoided in the final (59-78).

Istanbul 2017: Deja vu from Sluka’s Fenerbahce

Just like two years earlier, Olympiacos is called upon to deal with a strong team and a hot home base. The curse for CSKA that the “red and white” cast when they see it, continues in the semi-final (82-78) with – who else? – Vassilis Spanoulis “talking” in the last minutes, but the final is a different matter.

Fenerbahce of Kostas Sloukas, Zeliko Obradovic and tens of thousands of Turks achieves the goal for which they spent a lot of money and Yiannis Sfairopoulos returns to Piraeus without the trophy.

Belgrade 2022: Micic made the red and white Stark Arena bitter

Five years after their previous appearance, with Giorgos Bartzokas back on the bench, Olympiacos made the breakthrough by reaching the Final 4 with over 10,000 friends who traveled to Belgrade by their side. There he looked in the eyes of the champion Efes of Ergin Ataman, reached a perfect balance in the final of the match, but the unparalleled class of Vasilije Micic who scored under pressure on a three-pointer in the exhalation gave the Turkish team a 77-74 victory.