Papanikolaou: “It was a magical year, what counts in the end is winning”

An amazing season for him Olympic came to an end, with the people of Piraeus celebrating double by winning the championship and the Greek Cup, and while at the beginning of the season they also won the Super Cup.

One of the protagonists of this year’s effort and leader of the “red and whites”, Kostas Papanikolaouspoke to the ESAKE site, making it his own report of this year, stressing among other things that you answer to the “camp” of Piraeus they worked hard all these years so that the successes.

In detail what Kostas Papanikolaou said:



In your “maiden” season as captain, Olympiacos did the double for the first time in history for the second consecutive season and had an almost perfect season. What are your feelings first of all?

“When you enjoy where you are, you enjoy the organization and every single day, it makes it a lot easier. And when accompanied by titles and beautiful situations it makes it magical. The truth is, it really was a magical year. Not just for the title wins, but for the whole group of players, the staff and the whole organisation, with the relationships that developed.

Even with the problems and situations we went through, they “bonded” us even more and it all came out in the end in endless joy.”

Was it impressive how you went about winning the Championship for the second season in a row given that you only suffered one defeat?



“Imposing or not doesn’t matter that much. What matters is that you come out victorious in the end. That’s the goal whether it’s 3-0, 3-1 or 3-2, it’s important to have the 3, to be the winner. This is what we keep.”

Do you think it is the result of years of work?



“For sure. The team made decisions earlier that changed the situation a lot, but through this process we laid solid foundations. There have been too many children and players who put their… little stone in building the current team and having the year we had this year.”

Which is because Olympiacos continued to star even though the “pillars” of the previous decade, Vassilis Spanoulis and Giorgos Printezis, left in the previous two years.

“Certainly the team program is very important. All the coaches work very hard and Olympiacos has as its concern to get players judging by their character, competitiveness and work ethic, appetite and passion for work.

All the children in the last two years have shown a great will to work and through their personal improvement, the team also improved during the season.”

Was it personally the best season of your career?



“It was definitely a good season. I’m interested in titles. When the headlines come our way, I don’t care about anything other than that. That is the point and the whole point. It’s a team sport and what counts is the team winning and nothing else.”

Who was the MVP of the season for Olympiakos?



“Sasha for sure. For me, MVP is the whole team and I have said it many times because through teamwork, Vezenkov and every protagonist emerged this season. They are all together, let’s put Sasha half… a step higher.”