Bernard on sport-fm.gr: “Two finals with Dnipro – Important to improve our mistakes”

On a warm evening in Leoforos, Panathinaikos gave a dress rehearsal in front of its audience ahead of the two crucial matches with Dnipro for the second round of its qualifiers UEFA Champions League.

The “greens” were defeated 1-0 by Rayo Vallecano, in their last pre-season friendly, with Ivan Jovanovich to draw useful conclusions and to field the eleven that will probably line up on July 25 in Kozice, Slovakia against the Ukrainian club.

The Serbian manager again used all of his available fighters, as he has done during pre-season, with Toni Villena making his debut coming on as a substitute, while Filip Djuricic and Bernard were included in the starting line-up, with the two footballers to co-exist again on the playing field after their first joint, fifteen-minute, presence in the friendly with CSKA Sofia 1948 in Austria.

The Brazilian, a few minutes after the “friendly” defeat by Rayo Vallecano, spoke to sport-fm.gr and Giorgos Zacharioufor the result of the match, for the conclusions drawn from the friendlies, but also those elements that the “greens” should correct for the upcoming… finals with Dnipro.

Bernard’s statements to sport-fm.gr and Giorgos Zachariou in detail:

For the last friendly with Rayo and what we can expect against Dnipro:

“It was a difficult game for us. In the first 45 minutes we didn’t play very well, like me personally, I wasn’t good, I lost the ball many times. The team can definitely give more than they did.

We know that in a week we have a very important match, which will be the first of the season. It will be a ‘final’ for us and we will have to be fully focused, because it is 180 crucial minutes and we will give everything to bring a good result in the away match”.

What do you need to improve for the first match?

“We have a new way of playing that we are learning and we need to practice it and play some games. However, the coach knows this better than anyone. He knows it’s important to train hard. I believe that everyone knows what they need to improve and especially me about myself.

When I get home I think about the mistakes I made and try to improve them and do better next time. This is the most important thing. To realize our mistakes and not to repeat them next time”.

Do friendlies help to draw conclusions regarding the way of play and the rest of the matches?

“Of course, they are very important. It is preparation for the season and we have to take it seriously. We know that they don’t have the same feeling and that it’s not the same when we play league matches, or in general matches that give three points. But it is important to know that we have done a good preparation”.