Schwab: “Few believed in PAOK last summer”

Statements to the German “kicker” regarding the years he plays for PAOK, but also this season in the Stoiximan Super League, the “two-headed man of the north” gave the Stefan Schwab.

The Austrian defensive midfielder referred to this year’s team that has been created in the Thessaloniki team, highlighted the mistakes made at the beginning of the season, while underlining that based on the original plan, PAOK will pursue the championship and the Greek Cup to the end.

Schwab told Kicker in detail:

For PAOK fans: “It’s nice, you are recognized in every corner of the city and you can immediately feel how important PAOK is to all these people. Greek fans are considered very passionate, something I know from my presence in Rapid.

Whether we are talking about a friendly in Belgium or Holland or our preparation in Cyprus during the World Cup, PAOK fans flock to us everywhere. I can only say positive things”

For the championship and PAOK’s unbeaten streak: “They cost us some draws and so at the moment we are seven points behind Panathinaikos. Expectations at the start of the season were lower than usual. The squad has been revamped to a very large extent, but has great quality.

We are in the semi-finals of the Cup and we want to reach the final again. We may be the underdogs in the league, but we still have a chance to win the title. In the summer, there were few who believed that we would be among the contenders for the title. It’s also quite unusual to have four teams competing for the title.”.

For the upcoming derby with AEK: “We have a big game ahead of us and we definitely need the win. AEK has changed a lot this season, they are more aggressive, their new coach and players are performing very well and they have an extra big weapon: their new stadium where they have won all 13 games so far.

Only AEK have not been beaten by the theoretically big teams this season. But in front of our fans, we want to get the three points and close the gap.”

For not having played in the Bundesliga: “I was close to Mainz in 2015 when Martin Schmidt was the coach of the team and Reuven Schroeder the sporting director. Finally, they chose Fabian Fry from Switzerland. I then renewed my contract with Rapid and became its leader. In the summer of 2020, when Olaf Rebbe brought me to PAOK, Fortuna Dusseldorf was interested in me. But I preferred to go to PAOK and play for the titles”.

On whether he feels he made the right decision: “Certainly, in my first year, we won the Cup against Olympiakos, while last year we were in the quarter-finals of the Conference League but lost the Cup to Panathinaikos. This year, we want to play for both titles”.