Episodic past in Olympiacos-Real: The Angelopoulos outburst and the Spanoulis-Rudi clash

In Kaunas o Olympiacos with Real Madrid they will face each other for the fourth time in the Euroleague final. The… plastiga leans towards the “queen”, who has celebrated two victories, against one of the “red and white”.

The clash of the two is one of the classic derbies of European basketball, since their duels date back to the 90s. However, for three years in particular from 2013 to 2015 there was a lot of tension in their games.

The protagonists of the episodes were Vassilis Spanoulis from the side of Olympiakos and Rudy Fernandez from that of Real Madrid. In the meantime, there were also his… historic statements Panagiotis Angelopoulou after the elimination of the “red and white” in the 2014 playoffs.

Rudy’s unsportsmanlike ban on Spanoulis in 2013

It all started in his Final Four London in 2013. With 33.9” before the end, with the score at 94-85 and Olympiacos having… embraced the back-to-back conquest, Rudy Fernandez made a unnecessary unsportsmanlike foul to Vassilis Spanoulis. The Spanish forward obviously took all his frustration out on losing in the final, but the matter ended almost immediately. In fact, after the end of the match “V-Span” went and greeted all the players of the “queen”.

Spanoulis greeted the Real players one by one

Roudi-Spanoulis Round 2 and the… curse from Panagiotis Angelopoulos

A year later, the two teams met one step before the Final Four and specifically in the playoffs. From the first match, the series smelled like… gunpowder and something like that was confirmed at its premiere, which took place in Madrid. With the score at 78-62 in favor of the “queen” and at 5:43” before the end, another unsportsmanlike action by Rudi on Spanoulis went to… blow the situation up. ‘Kill Bill’ had just won a free-kick from Salah Meiri and continued the phase with the Spanish forward to strike with the knee the leader of the Piraeus, as a result of which a small conflict ensued.

Real took the first two in Madrid, with Olympiakos responding in kind in SEF to take the series to a fifth and final match in the Spanish capital. There, the “queen” was superior to the Piraeus team, winning 83-69 and qualifying for the 2014 Final Four, in Milan. After the end of the match, one of the owners of the “red and white” KAE, Panagiotis Angelopouloslashed out at the Real Madrid players over their behaviour, saying:

“We are proud of our team. We fought. We didn’t hand over any crowns. We lost to Real, the team we played in the final last year and beat them. This year we were hit by injuries, we did our best and the future belongs to Olympiakos. They are a patchwork of good players, but the way they play they have shown no respect to Olympiacos, who have won two European championships and humiliated them in the final last year. They have beaten Spanoulis to the woodwork and when the game is decided, for the two guards to go and virtually lift him up is a picture of disgust to me. I hope they make it to the Final Four».

For the record, Real reached the final of the Final Four, but probably the… wishes of Panagiotis Angelopoulos came true, as they were defeated in extra time by Maccabi Tel Avivwhich had as its main protagonist Tyrese Rice.

The final episode in the Madrid final

The last … act against Rudy and Spanoulis was given in the final of Madrid in 2015. In the last minutes of the match, the two had started a dialogue with both sides rebutting, to come the … explosion at 13.9” before the end . After a 3-pointer by Sergio Rodriguez made it 78-59, Rudy scooped the ball up the floor and very ironic way he handed it over to Vassilis Spanoulis. Naturally, this move did not sit well with ‘Kill Bill’, who handed the ball back to the Spanish forward and both were charged with technical penalties.