Defeated by Real Madrid team 82-69 in the first match of the 2021-22 season of Turkish Airlines Euroleague, Anadolu Efes head coach Ergin Ataman stated his thoughts post-game:
"I think that we’ve lost the match in the first quarter. Our performance was terrible. I don’t remember playing this badly in the first quarter for a long time. We finished the first quarter with 6 turnovers and 0 assists, and we’ve finished the match with a 47-23 rebound difference. It was as if we had come to Madrid for touristic purposes. Real Madrid was ready to beat us. This is my view of the match. It is very hard to come back if you allow the rival to score 32 points in the first quarter. Congratulations to Real Madrid. It was a bad start for us.”