There will be no French team in the Euroleague final. On the other hand, there will be a Frenchman, Moustapha Fall, detonator of Olympiakos on Friday in this semi-final against the Greek team seemed to be at its worst. The former ASVEL player, fixed on his goal, now hopes to lift the trophy.
Moustapha Fall (31 years old, 2.18m) had left ASVEL in 2021, with two French championship titles to his name, the second of which he obtained with the team dear to Tony Parker (he had been crowned at Chalon in 2017), and a Coupe de France, won there too just before he packed his bags for Greece. The impressive pivot hopes to lift with Olympiakos the Euroleague for the first time. After the stunning success of Fall and his family, Friday in the semi-finals in Kaunas against Monaco, the former player of… the Roca Team, but at the time when it was still playing in Pro B, is only at a victory to realize his dream. However, Fall and his family were scared in the first half on Friday against Monegasques who were leading by twelve points at the break.
Fortunately for the French international, Olympiakos showed a completely different face when they returned from the locker room, he was the first. After the match, he acknowledged that his coach’s words had transformed the Greek team. “In the locker room, the coach spoke to us. He mainly told us to be more relaxed, because I think we were a little nervous. I don’t know why, but we really played as if we were the team that had no experience. I don’t know what happened. We calmed down, we came back much more aggressive and we executed the systems as needed: everyone was in their place and put on the right intensity and the result is there. »
“Even if it means taking five faults, I had to be aggressive”
A result that owes a lot to the performance of the ex-Villeurbannais, also unrecognizable on the resumption after a first half that did not look like him. He also has his own idea about the reasons for this late action on his part. “I was much more aggressive. At the start of the match, I took a foul very early, so afterwards I tried to be careful not to take my second foul quickly. But then I came back in the second half telling myself that it didn’t matter, and that even if it meant taking five fouls, I had to be aggressive. And I tried to put as much intensity as possible, and the whole group followed, so it’s cool, “appreciated Fall at the microphone of The Channel The Teamwhere he hopes to return to celebrate the title this time, this weekend.
Car Fall and the best team of the regular season have only the trophy in mind. “We came here with this ambition, like any team. Everyone has their chances, it’s very balanced, it’s up to us to do the job and to be focused on what we have to do. The first European coronation of the interior born in Paris passes by there.