Panathinaikos A.O.

Defending EuroLeague champion Real Madrid have been the first to qualify now in the Final Four phase, eliminating Greek opponents Panathinaikos OPAP in the quarterfinal.

Real Madrid has swept Panathinaikos with three wins in as many games thanks to an 89-82 win in Athens on Tuesday, to leave the Greek champion out of the Euroleague Final Four.

Unlike in Games 1 and 2, the Greens this time were unable to contain the Spanish attack for long and despite some very good spells they were second best overall in this game.

Panathinaikos is left ruing the missed chance of a break last Wednesday in Game 1 of the Euroleague play-off series with Real Madrid, as in Friday's Game 2 it lost 78-63 and is on the verge of elimination in this best-of-five series. No team has ever won a series on this level having trailed 2-0.

Panathinaikos wasted a great chance it created for itself for a historic break in Madrid, but eventually lost 75-72 in Game 1 of the Euroleague play-offs on Wednesday. It will have another opportunity for that on Friday.

Peristeri added another major scalp to its collection this year, as after beating champion Panathinaikos a few weeks ago it defeated Olympiakos too on Wednesday, with the Reds appearing to sink into decay. Meanwhile Panathinaikos thrashed AEK on the road to mathematically clinch the top spot in the regular season with three games left to play.

A freak buzzer-beating triple by Rudy Fernandez had Panathinaikos succumb to Real Madrid in Athens, while a careless Olympiakos is risking missing out of the play-offs after its home loss to Zalgiris Kaunas, as both Greek teams wasted their leads to lose to their visitors, one round of games before the end of the Euroleague regular season.

Rick Pitino's Panathinaikos produced its sixth consecutive Euroleague win, and probably the most important one too, beating Armani Milano in Italy, while Olympiakos slumped to a shocking loss at Gran Canaria.

In a shock decision by the Super League on Friday, the derby between Panathinaikos and Olympiakos that was abandoned last Sunday will resume from the point when it was stopped, i.e. the 70th minute.

The president of one of Greece's biggest pharmaceutical companies and an influential personality in the Greek sports world, Thanasis Giannakopoulos has died. He was 88.

The last of three brothers, Giannakopoulos died on Tuesday in the intensive care unit of the Greek capital's Hygeia Hospital after suffering a stroke.

Panathinaikos stunned Europe with a famous road win at CSKA Moscow on Friday to give its chances for a play-off berth a real boost, while Olympiakos continued to slump going down at Armani Milano on Thursday. The two Greek teams are now joint eighth.