Almeida: “There is no time for sadness, the celebration of Greek football begins”

Matias Almeida spoke about the reaction that AEK must show in the playoffs, after the defeat by Panathinaikos, in view of the derby with Panathinaikos in the premiere.

In detail, what he said to the Cosmote TV camera:

For the loss of Mimi Papaioannou: “First of all, I would like to give my condolences to his family. I did not have the opportunity to meet him and see him. But, he has left something behind in the history of this club and Greek football. So, he deserves to be remembered with a lot of love and a lot of respect. This is a man who brought a lot of joy to our world and our club. He is part of history and we should respect him exactly as he deserves.”

About how the week went in Spata, in terms of the psychological management of the defeat by Olympiakos: “What I try to do is separate my thinking into defeat, draw and victory. We have done a deep analysis regarding the game. So, we didn’t have to work much on the psychological part, we mostly worked on real events. Both positive and negative. Those who have played football, we know that in such games or in a process like the one that will begin, the playoffs, there is no time for sadness, there is no time to look for excuses. Henceforth, motivation should be present in all of us. The celebration of Greek football begins. We will be part of the celebration. We are “invited” because of what we have accomplished so far. And we will try to find the “cake”! Like all teams participating in the playoffs. Everything that has happened up to the last game is in the past, it’s over. We have ten games to go. It will be won by the team that will be stronger mentally. The team that will have more personality to take risks. The team that will deserve it.”

Regarding the fact that he is facing Panathinaikos, the team that in New Philadelphia, regardless of the score, managed to absorb more than all the pressure that AEK normally exerts:

“All the teams that are in the playoffs, we are good teams. Each of them tries to reach victory in a different way. Some teams, like us, feel that we are part of the club, part of history. In these six teams, there are some that have common characteristics in the way they play. Teams with very good coaches, with very good footballers. So, I’m not one of those people who can talk individually before a game about a match. In football there are different preferences, in relation to the way of playing.

It is always analyzed from different angles. On the one hand, analysis can be done in the game itself, in its form. One can also analyze it in relation to its form and the effort to seek the degrees. And on the other hand, it may not matter how you play, but whether you manage to get the points. No one is right! This is football, so I believe that until today the team that finished first in the regular season is Panathinaikos”.

As to whether the program plays a role in his thinking or whether he is of the opinion that everyone will play with everyone: “It depends… It depends on the time, it depends on the day. It depends on whether you are comfortable playing last or first. In the end, the one who should get the championship, should win. From then on, these things happen in football. You might happen to play three difficult games in a row at the beginning or end. But, we believe in goodwill. Like last week when it happened and we played three games. We believe in goodwill.”

On what trait he would like his team to display more than any other in the playoff series:

“It’s very hard to say, it’s very hard to say. I would be happy if AEK plays the same way it played throughout the championship. If he plays at this level and a bit more, then we will be competitive. Of course, the rest will also try to play in their own way and a little more, so we will have to wait.”