CSKA

© Anton novoderezhkin/TASS, archive

ISTANBUL /Turkey/, may 18. /Spec. Q. TASS Andrei Kartashov/. Russian CSKA has a good chance of winning over the Greek Olympiakos in the semifinal of Euroleague basketball, but the favorite “Final four” is the Turkish “Fenerbahce”. This opinion TASS expressed former forward of CSKA CSKA Smodis.

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“I spent time with CSKA great years and of course I will be rooting for this team. I think CSKA have a good chance to reach the final, should finally remove the curse of “Olympiacos” in the “final four”. But the tournament favourite is Fenerbahce, they play at home and hungry to win,” said Smodis, who played for CSKA Moscow from 2005 to 2011, and twice won the Euroleague team (2006, 2008).

“In addition, there is a tendency that the Euroleague win of the team with the best defense . And now Fenerbahce have it the best,” added the Slovenian.

Matches a crucial stage of the Euroleague season 2016/17 will be held in the arena “Sinan Erdem dome”. On Friday CSKA in the semifinals will meet with the Greek “Olympiakos” (beginning at 18:30 GMT) and the Turkish “Fenerbahce” – the Spanish “real” (21:30). The finals will take place on Sunday.

The final four of the Euroleague will take place in Istanbul for the third time. The first was in 1992, and then in 2012 – then he ended with the victory of Olympiacos over CSKA in the final (62:61).