Alexander Vezenkov and Olympiacos were caught up in a curse in the Euroleague, which has been in effect for almost a decade now. The curse in question has been in effect since the competition switched to its current format in the 2016/17 season and consists in the fact that no team that finished in first place in the regular season standings has ever reached the trophy, writes Sportal.bg.
Olympiacos already experienced this in the 2022/23 season, when Vezenkov became the MVP of the regular season, and the “red-whites” from Piraeus finished with a balance of 24-10 - just like now. Then, after a dramatic success over Fenerbahce in the playoffs and a victory against Monaco in the semifinals of the Final Four, Sasho and company lost dramatically in the grand final to Real Madrid.
Now they dealt with "los Blancos" in the playoffs and faced the Monegasques again in the semifinals, but this time they had to swallow defeat by the team led by Olympiacos legend Vasilis Spanoulis at the "Etihad Arena" in Abu Dhabi. Vezenkov, on the other hand, had his weakest game of the entire season in the duel with the team from the Principality, which ended 78:68 for Mike James and company.
Even reaching the final usually turns out to be an impossible task for the first of the regular season. Only in three cases since the current format (round robin instead of group stage) has the top finisher in the regular season reached the final - Barcelona (2021), Olympiacos (2023) and Real Madrid (2024). This season, this did not happen again, and the tournament format with the Final Four, where everything is decided in one match, also contributes to the fact that the most consistent and strongest team during the season cannot go all the way to the trophy.