Bernard: “Terribly concentrated with PAOK – AEK is our main opponent”

A quality team that becomes even more difficult when you face them at home, were his words Bernard, describing PAOK, ahead of the battle with Panathinaikos. The Brazilian emphasized that the “greens” must be concentrated, while he also spoke about AEK, which is a main competitor for the title.

His statements to NOVA in detail:

For the game against PAOK: “The next matches are “key” for the championship. Undoubtedly, the match against PAOK will be very difficult. We will need to be fully focused and every point is now very important. PAOK is a quality team and it is very difficult when you face them at home. There are five games left and each one of them is crucial.”

What Panathinaikos should pay attention to: “The most important part in the match against PAOK will be concentration. From there on, we will have to follow the instructions of our coach. We have studied the opponent, as I believe they will have done for us. This is the fifth match we will play against PAOK this year, which means that both teams know each other quite well. The slightest mistake in such games can be fatal, so we will have to be focused throughout the match and take advantage of any opportunity that comes our way.”

For Olympiakos’ game against AEK: “Every point from now on is very important. With AEK we are basically going point by point so far. We, for our part, will do the best we can to get victories and gain points and reach our final goal, the one that unites us all, the championship.”

For this year’s course of Panathinaikos: “From the first moment I came to the team, I saw that there is quality. We all try to do the right thing, follow our coach’s instructions and work hard. To some others what we have created may be a surprise, but to me it is not. We’re all proud of our run this year, but we haven’t conquered anything yet. We continue to work hard, so that we can conquer what we really want.”

For the strong point of the team this year: “We have understood Ivan Jovanovic’s “want” and we faithfully follow what he asks of us. As a team we have conceded few goals and that is very important for him who wants to become champion. Also, we try to score as many goals as we can. We all know and know what we have to do and we try to improve more and more, so that we can reach our goal.”

For the other contenders for the title: “At the moment, AEK is our big rival. We have six points difference with Olympiakos, but we will see game by game how things will develop. We cannot know what will happen in the next matches. We and AEK are two teams completely focused on what we are doing and I believe that whoever has the most concentration until the end will win. We, on the other hand, should be focused throughout the games, but also in the preparation we do before them.”

Regarding the interruption for the Easter days and whether Panathinaikos was affected: “We are coming off the big win against Olympiakos and that gives us more confidence and more appetite. We have to keep playing well, to win and get points. Under no circumstances should we be affected by this interruption and lose the concentration we have had so far. Every point is important and we all know how important wins and points are.”