Lithuanian police named the reason why Crvena Zvezda fans were asked to leave Zalgirio arena / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: BNS Credit BNS

The emotional battle between Zalgiris Kaunas and Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade took place off the court as well.

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At the end of the fourth quarter, the conflict emerged between Zalgiris and Crvena Zvezda fans. A couple of Zalgiris supporters aggressively approached Serbian fans.

A couple of moments later, Crvena Zvezda's assistant coaches and staff members joined the fuss, creating a little chaos next to the visiting team's bench. However, it didn't escalate into a physical fight, and there were no injured people.

Credit BNS

After that, the local police got involved. A couple of seconds later, Zalgiris and Crvena Zvezda fans separated. However, the police officers remained seated next to the Serbian fans.

Despite that, Crvena Zvezda fans eventually were asked to leave the arena during the overtime.

"In order to avoid a possible conflict, we asked the Serbian fans to leave. They agreed to it. We escorted them to the airport, and additional fights or conflicts were not registered," Ramunas Matonis, Head of Communications of the Lithuanian Police, told BasketNews.

The tensions in the Zalgirio arena were already high before tip-off. Crvena Zvezda players refused to hold a banner with "Stop the War" message, causing Zalgiris fans to boo the visitors.

"It's not a question for me," Radonjic said after being asked about such a decision.

However, Aaron White revealed that players were told not to hold the banner.

"As a team, we were told not to touch the flag. I would like to make it clear that I don't support the war, and I want peace in our world," White tweeted.

However, Serbian players like Nemanja Nedovic and Luka Mitrovic were disappointed with the presence of the NATO flag in the arena.

"EuroLeague, there is no place for stuff like this in basketball arenas," Nedovic tweeted.

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