Post-game statements by Zeljko Obradovic and Rudy Fernandez
Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade head coach Zeljko Obradovic:
"This is in the hands of the officials and in the hands of the EuroLeague. I believe that what happened is not good for the image of basketball, not good for the image of Real Madrid nor for Partizan. This should never happen, in my opinion. Second, we are speaking of emotions, right? The players have emotions and this has happened. But on the other hand, after the game, they greeted each other, and no problem. This happened during the game, it's finished and it was discussed between them. From this moment on, I am going to try to calm all the people in Belgrade. Why? Because I have friends here. It's a great club, Real Madrid. I want people talking about basketball, not talking about this. It has happened, and that's it. We have always had here impressive hospitality from everyone in Madrid. Like I said, I have friends here and I have great respect for everyone. And when we go to Belgrade tomorrow, I'm going to talk about that. I'm going to try to calm everybody so that we receive Real Madrid like the people here have received us. That they are going to support our team, yes, but that they are not going to do anything against Real Madrid. Everyone has to feel good. From today I am going to begin, and every day I am going to repeat it. We need to talk about basketball because when we talk about basketball, there is nothing better."
Real Madrid forward Rudy Fernandez
"What we experienced today... we must apologize to our fans, to all basketball fans, I think. It's something you must not see. In these situations, with high heartbeats-per-minute, mistakes are made sometimes, and tonight was one of those times.
From what I could hear, Zeljko [Obradovic] said it in the press conference - they consider us a friend team, we also consider Partizan the same, a team that has always taken good care of us... Obradovic and [Partizan assistant coach Jose] Izquierdo know this club well... The tension lived in the game must stay at what happened tonight.
"Let's hope that all players - theirs and ours - are okay to play basketball, which is why we are here. We are here so that people have a good time, so that people enjoy the EuroLeague - which is one of the best leagues in the world -... let's hope his doesn't happen again."
"I have to thank Zeljko: he said it all. I think it's difficult, a difficult situation for us, for everyone. I experienced it as a player. It's difficult to live this, to have the home-court advantage and a team like Partizan plays better than we did. Then this happened, and we can talk about what Punter said and what Llull said. But the reason we are here is basketball. Their team as well as ours are teams that tend to put on a good basketball show, and we can't repeat what happened in those last minutes. I have to thank Zeljko, because as he said so well, we have to calm everything down among both of our fanbases, theirs and ours. What we need to do now is think about this tough playoff and, even though it's an uphill battle, make sure that Real Madrid fights until the end. So we have to think about this next game and only about how to enjoy basketball and only think about that."
