Lucescu: “Enough! What would happen if Olympiacos, Panathinaikos, AEK were in our place?”

It was rainy Razvan Lucescu in his statements to Nova ahead of the derby with AEK. The Romanian took a stand for the offside equalizing goal which was accepted by PAOK from Asteras Tripoli and spoke of an ongoing scandal that has deprived the “two-headed man of the North” of points.

“Nothing is okay. What happened is a scandal, one ongoing scandal against us, against our work, against our team. A mistake was made, which is not the first. Two games ago it was Levadeaikos’ penalty, against Panathinaikos it was the red card. Now this, a classic penalty and an offside that the assistant was in the wrong position and VAR tried to cover up. It’s tragic for us, it confirms what I’m saying. The same story happened in the Cup final, with the referee and VAR, a title that was stolen. They are too many. We must be Gods to succeed. We play our game, we try. The game was 2-1, we are not the best team in the world to be perfect but they have to let us play. We play a good game, we score, we concede a goal, if the game ended 2-1 we would have two more points. Stop attacking us. I have a question. If this mistake was made in a game of Olympiakos, AEK or Panathinaikos do you think it would be the same? No. They would have five minutes left to find out if they are offside. It’s too much, stop“, he initially reported and added:

“I am not crazy. Maybe I’m crazy for calling a spade a spade. I’m not lying, it’s the raw truth that I’ve been living with PAOK since 2017. It’s not okay. We are a team that is constantly being attacked, punished by the decisions, by the referees, by the VAR. Arrives! I can not figure it out. I want to hear the assistant, the VAR. What do they say about the phase, what is their logic in this decision, to count a goal that should have been disallowed. I understand that from NOVA there is a mistake, but I don’t see these mistakes in the football of other countries.

They come now and say sorry. How does this help us? Sorry for what? For all these seasons? For last year’s cup, for the other titles that were lost for PAOK? What is this apology? We want proper treatment. If we’re good on the field, let’s win, if we’re not, let’s not win».

For what he said to his players in front of him derby with AEK: “You know what I told them before the game? That you have to be prepared to play against the referees this season, against VAR. Understand this. I told them both on Sunday and Monday before the match, but we didn’t succeed. We talked after the game, analyzed what we could have done better in the last few minutes. We move on because the next game is very interesting. This is a different piece that was made to do with out-of-competition stuff. With committees, arbitration decisions, groups that have help…

The AEK we have to face is a quality team, with quality players, with a fantastic coach, who has given a special style to his team and the hope that they can win the title this year. It will be a difficult game for us and for them».

On whether he still believes his team has the potential to claim the title: “The goal is the next game, the best position in the ranking, to go to the final. These are goals. That’s why we enter the field. In football you always try to build a team and then take advantage. No one enters the field thinking about next year. Realistically, however, this team gains experience, has young players, learns to overcome great injustices, to manage their anger, to understand that we must give more than our 100%. By going through this process throughout the year, next year they will be more prepared. However, this does not mean that tomorrow they will not enter the field to give everything to win the game”

For what game is waiting: “Each game gives three points, all are the same,. Either you play with the former, or with the latter. The motivation is different, special, for many reasons. Emotions will be at the highest level. It should always be this way, but it is impossible. In that respect it will be a special game, but in the end the three points are the same.”