The final series in Greece has the two classic teams, AEK Athens and Olympiacos dueling once again. AEK Athen had home advantage in the first game but Olympiacos didn’t mind the arena winning by a five goal margin, 32–27.
Coach Ricardo Trillini seems to have put Olympiacos in super shape for the season defining games to come in June. While AEK had 2–0 from the previous league matches the reigning champion took control of the title race from the strong start.
Athanasios Papazoglu opened up an early gap, 8–6 was the fourth goal from the right back. Ivan Sliskovic had equal precision with shots from the left position.
Despite equalising several teams, the last opportunity meant 21–21 for Athens. Olympiacos responded quickly and had a higher pace than the opponent towards the end.
– I had said before that we had more time to prepare for this game, due to the European obligations of the opponents. And that was our advantage today. So I am very happy that we took advantage of it
– I am also happy because we were very effective on the counterattack and I saw, in general, many things that I liked. We continue, we simply took the first step, Trillini said to the club homepage.
The golden team in Greece has to win three finals.
AEK Athens–Olympiacos 27–32 (12–14)