By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
The ongoing saga of Crvena Zvezda against Mathias Lessort may end up in Serbian courts of law. The club announced today that they are suing Partizan’s center and are expecting the local authorities to examine the case.
Per the press release: “KK Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet is obliged to inform the public so that disinformation does not occur again, that on Thursday, March 16, 2023, it officially filed a criminal complaint against Mathias Lessort for violent behavior and violent beating of our first team player Filip Petrusev. We will inform the public in detail about the next steps because we want them to see that as a club we are doing everything in our power to limit the influence of those who think they can do whatever they want. Among them is a French citizen working temporarily in the Republic of Serbia”.
The whole issue started with Lessort pushing violently Petrusev at the end of the ABA League game between Crvena Zvezda and Partizan. While Partizan coach Zeljko Obradovic tried to calm things down in the press conference after the game and Lessort apologized, things are far from over.
As Zvezda stated: “ As a club that in the previous days asked specific questions and addressed the facts about all the events and anomalies that we can recognize, which lead to the complete irregularity of the ABA league, we did not expect anything other than attacks and unforced answers, for our sport from completely unimportant characters. As usual, we didn’t get answers to all directly asked questions!”.
Attack on Partizan president
Zvezda directly attacks Partizan president Ostoja Mijailovic without naming him: “KK Crvena Zvezda waits on the tabloid address of an ignorant and uneducated person (in the continuation of the address anonymous person), whose only legacy in sports is the closing down of one of the oldest football clubs in Serbia (Borac Cacak), winning one Cup (under dubious circumstances) and playing football recreationally (hence the term recreational, we guess), to answer with a few facts the questions, to which a kind of “artist for the processing of base metals” should give an answer to the public, including a large number of supporters of the club he represents (and very often embarrasses with his public appearances) and who already recognized what kind of person he is”.
In a long press release, Zvezda poses questions, accusing the Partizan president of not paying taxes, “deceiving” the ABA League, asking questions about their budget, their EuroLeague participation via a wildcard, and more.
It seems that this case will not close any time soon, with Zvezda having already asked for the suspension of Lessort until the end of the season in the ABA League, and the highest sanction for him while accusing him of laying.
A long-standing rivalry renewed last summer
A debate between Partizan and Crvena Zvezda on every level is not news, however, things got heated again in basketball since the return of Zeljko Obradovic to Partizan’s bench.
With the ABA League championship title translated to a spot in EuroLeague, last June’s ABA League finals ended up being more than tense both on and off the court with Zvezda getting the championship title.
After this result and many fan violence incidents from both sides, Partizan decided to withdraw from the Serbian league playoffs – ABA League includes teams from all ex-Yugoslavian countries – and the scenery between the two sides remains practically unchanged since then.