CSKA will play in Top 16 Group E

Euroleague Top 16 draw finished in Mediapro Auditorium, Barcelona, Spain. Our team was drawn into Group E as the first seed.

CSKA will face Olympiakos, Anadolu Efes and Galatasaray.

Jonas Kazlauskas, CSKA head coach:

Our team has the highest goals possible with the minimum task of qualifying to the Final Four. So there is no big difference who will be our opponent on the group stage. There are no clubs left in Top 16 which experienced financial, roster, game problems in the beginning of the season. Everyone is strong. Olympiakos stands alone as the European elite member. The club reached great successes; it was always on top, being one of two Greek giants. Efes was always one of the leaders in Turkey, one of the best in Europe. I am sure that the team possesses great potential and its best games are yet to come. Galatasaray qualified from preliminary stages and demonstrates pretty good basketball thanks to several experienced players like Lakovic and others. I think every team in our group can win in every game.

Andrei Vatutin, CSKA President:

First of all, I would like to say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone. Our main task is to forget about best-ever series and our results in the regular championship. Top 16 starts from 0-0, and your previous results does not matter. I am glad that we will visit Istanbul twice, because many of our fans fly here to support us. Surely, they will support us this time again. Besides, as the Russian saying goes, the God loves Trinity. Hopefully, we will have a chance to visit Istanbul for the third time too.