The match between Panathinaikos and Olympiacos will take place in Athens on Friday, October 6. The match will start at 21.15 Kiev time.

The first round of the strongest club tournament in the Old World has already prepared a very delicious basketball meal for all fans of the orange ball. At the beginning of the Euroleague, the Greek basketball derby, one of the two hottest derbies in Europe, will be played. The arch-rivals of Panathinaikos and Olympiacos will face each other once again in their eternal struggle.

Olympiacos

The Euroleague 2022/2023 finalists suffered serious losses in the offseason. “Oli” lost two team leaders at once: last season’s MVP Alexander Vezenkov left to conquer the NBA, and defender Kostas Sloukas moved to Panathinaikos. And if the Bulgarian’s departure abroad is obvious, then the transition of one of the highest status Greek basketball players to the camp of an eternal contender shocked almost everyone who follows European basketball.

But life goes on and Oli began to build a new team, especially due to the fact that other important players remained, such as American Thomas Walkup with a Greek passport, Greek Yiannoulis Larentzakis, Kostas Papanikolaou and other players. Head coach Georgios Bartsokas also remained at the helm of the team. Piraeus’ earnings are also solid. Ignas Brazdeikis joined from Zalgiris, Luke Sikma joined from Alba and Nigel William-Goss defended for Real Madrid last season. Serbian center Nikola Milutinov also returned to the team after a three-year break.

Although Olympiacos’ current situation seems potentially a little weaker than last year, the potential of this team is still quite serious. And if the new players successfully join the team, Olympiacos can again become one of the strongest teams in the Euroleague. However, for now, the technical staff will have to compensate for the departure of such important basketball players.

“Panathinaikos”

The second Greek giant has consistently failed in recent seasons and finished at the bottom of the Euroleague regular championship. But last summer they decided to build a completely new and powerful team in Athens and no money was spared in this regard. Panathinaikos has been almost completely updated (only four players remain from last year’s squad) and this update is clearly in the direction of strengthening.

Spaniard Juancho Hernangomez from the NBA, Greek Kostas Antetokounmpo from Fenerbahce, Argentinian Luca Vildosa from Red Star and Americans Kyle Guy and Jerian Grant, who performed well in the last European Cup, were added to the “Pao” squad. and also Poland’s Alexander Balcerovski. And of course, the transfer of Kostas Sloukas from Olympiacos stands out. I promoted “Pao” and the coaching position. The new coach of the team is Turkish Ergin Ataman, one of the most prestigious and charismatic coaches in Europe.

Of course, recruiting strong basketball players does not mean a strong team, but the Turkish coach is very good at building strong teams and he clearly proved this in his previous club Efes Pilsen, where he won the Euroleague championship twice. If Ergin Ataman puts all the pieces of the team puzzle together and the player selection is great, the Greeks will once again become leaders in the Euroleague after a long break.

Match Features

The biggest interest in today’s fight will be in the person of Kostas Sloukas. The star Greek defender took a step that not every local basketball player would dare to take. Kostas was lucky to some extent that the first round match will be played at the Pao stadium and not in Oli, but there is no doubt that there will be local fans in the first match of the season between the arch-rivals in Piraeus. They will give their old pets a very warm welcome.

Although the season has just started, this match will be the second match for the teams. On September 30, the teams met in the final of the Greek Super Cup on neutral ground, after which Olympiacos left no stone unturned against its opponent – 75:51. Based on this result, we will bet that Olya will win today. Panathinaikos looks very wet at the beginning of the season and this makes sense. The team has undergone many changes, and time is still needed for ordinary teamwork.

Sport.ua prediction: Olympiacos won

2.15 – 1.73 place bet money Zrobiti bet

2.03 – 1.72 place bet money Zrobiti bet