Turkish Airlines EuroLeague title holder Anadolu Efes Istanbul issued a statement regarding the refereeing in their home game against FC Barcelona, where the Catalans managed to pull out an important win in the overtime.
| Player of the Game | |
|
EFF
25
|
| Sertac Sanli | |
| Points | 24 |
| Accuracy | 9-11 |
| Rebounds | 3 |
| Assists | 1 |
The Turkish club expressed their dissatisfaction about the level of refereeing in the game and wished for a lower number of errors in such big encounters.
"As Anadolu Efes Sports Club, we aim to win by fighting to the end in fair play in all the matches we play. We are trying to reflect the same fight on the field in Turkish Airlines EuroLeague and the Basketball Super League, in which we proudly attend.
Our greatest desire is to play a match where the better team wins. We are really sorry when many clear errors got beyond the competition on the court, like the match we played the last day," says the statement.
"Refereeing at the match of the 2020-2021 season finalists in Europe's best competition, where every win is very valuable, was not realized at the expected level.
The wrong whistles at the end of the match became more decisive than the breathtaking fight of both teams. It is our greatest wish that every team fights fair play to the end, with fewer referee errors."
During overtime, both Nikola Mirotic and Shane Larkin were fouled out where the latter complained about the allegedly wrong calls in his Instagram account.
Besides, Ergin Ataman could not hold himself back about some decisions regarding fouls and got two technical fouls in quick succession to be ejected in overtime.
