Basket: Partizan to have home atmosphere in Paris - 07/04/2010
Source : Blic
A special aspect of the basketball Euroleague’s final event of the season – the Final Four hosted in Paris – will be the atmosphere on the terraces. The draw has paired Serbian champions Partizan with Greek side Olympiacos, while Barcelona take on CSKA Moscow in the other semi.
Owing to the same club colours or shared distant history respectively, Partizan’s brother clubs are PAOK Thessaloniki and CSKA Moscow. Partizan fans regularly display banners bearing the name of the Greek black-white counterparts and, despite being a European minnow these days, PAOK fans are set to give support to the Belgrade team’s efforts at the Final Four with their physical presence in Paris. Conversely, CSKA have dominated the European basketball for years and their attendance in the Bercy Arena will be measured in thousands.
- “The friendship and partnership of Partizan’s Grobari fans and those of CSKA Moscow goes way back and it’s eternal. They are our brothers in every respect and every time we get a chance we support each other’s teams. The same will be at the Final Four in Paris. Given our two teams cannot meet before the final, we will be supporting CSKA against Barcelona, and I expect them to support Partizan when we take on Olympiacos,” one of the Grobari fan leaders has said for Blic.
However, before they set off for Paris, a number of Partizan fans will have to solve the issue of getting hold of Final Four tickets.
- “How to get the tickets, how to ensure as many tickets as we can, who to travel and where to stay in Paris – to name just a few problems we face before we get to Paris. As things stand now, very little is known and, to make matters worse, it’s the Euroleague who have the final say in everything.”
Regardless of the obstacles, the fans are bound to give vocal support to Dusko Vujosevic’s men in Paris.
- “What I can say with certainty is that, no matter how many of us make it to the event, we will give our team full support because they have deserved it with their performances. We will be thinking about our organization on the stands later on,” said the Blic source.
The Paris police will have an additionally delicate task to handle when Partizan’s fans touch down in Paris, since their rival Belgrade fan group – Red Star’s Delije fans – have been announcing on internet forums and social networks they will be joining and supporting their own brother team, Olympiacos Piraeus, in the semi-final against Partizan in Paris.
