This one will undoubtedly have a special taste for eternity! Panathinaikos and its French pivot Mathias Lessort won the Euroleague basketball this Sunday evening, logically winning against a dominated Real Madrid (95-80).
And it is by seeing the images of the 28-year-old French pivot, in tears and hugging his ball at the edge of the pitch for many minutes, that we realize what this first coronation on the highest European stage means. The native of Fort-de-France, Martinique, had already won the Fiba European Cup in 2017 with Nanterre and the Eurocup in 2021 with AS Monaco, but this is the first time he has posed his hands on the holy grail of European basketball.
Lessort, selected by Vincent Collet in mid-May in an expanded list for the Paris 2024 Games, made three unfortunate tricolors in the opposite camp, that of Real Madrid: Guerschon Yabusele, Vincent Poirier and Fabien Causeur. Real had started off in the best way, largely winning the first quarter (36-25), but collapsed as the game progressed, until finally giving in in the fourth (16-31). ).
This is the first coronation since 2011 in the Euroleague for Panathinaikos, seven times titled in the competition (1996, 2000, 2002, 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2024). Mathias Lessort, who is the player to have spent the most time on the field in this meeting (33 minutes), particularly shone: 17 points (3rd best on his team), 6 rebounds (best on his team), 1 assist decisive.
