Almeida: “I am saddened by these events, everything changed suddenly – Our only goal is victory”

Regarding the difficulty for everyone in AEK to focus on the game against Dinamo Zagreb, he pointed out Matias Almeida during the press conference for the match with the Croatian team.

The Argentinian coach pointed out that everyone in the club is obliged to focus on the game, stressing that the only goal in tomorrow’s match (15/8, 21:00) is the victory.

In detail what he said:

On the fact that the previous press conference was full of joy, after the tragedy how do you handle your emotions: “I am a person who is saddened by such events. I am a person who left home at the age of 15 and the truth is that I like there to be peace in the world. We were both happy teams for our debut in the qualifiers. Of course we are sorry for what happened, for the family, it is something sad. Football is on the one hand, violence is something I don’t like. I don’t want to make it look small. I don’t like it in my country, or anywhere.”

To prepare after the tragedy: “It’s something nobody expected what happened, it goes beyond football. There is a training schedule, travel, everything had to change. We completely understand the pain of the family and therefore send our condolences from here. I’m focusing on the football part.”

For the two games close to each other and the fact that AEK has an official game to play from May: “It doesn’t affect me, we are happy to start the process of games, we are not looking for excuses and both teams will have two games in four days.”

For Vida: “Vida is fine. I understand what it’s like to come back to his country and play against his old team. He is a professional and is available for tomorrow.”

For pressure: “I live the game with love and passion, for me the pressure feels like a father who cannot feed his child. We try to live football differently, we want to give a spectacle to the world.”

For Dinamo who are used to playing in this phase: “I think it’s a great team, a great organization, it has a distinctive style, a system that I like, I agree with their style of football, it’s made up of young, talented and players with a future. We are a united group, we have achieved some things in Greece and we want to do something good in Europe as well”.



For who is the favorite: “The World Cup showed us that there are no favorites, now football is equal, no one has the ‘medicine’ to have absolute success. I had many Croatian teammates, they have in common with the Argentine players, they were aggressive, in Sevilla I had Prosinetski, in Lazio Boxic, a striker who when he wanted to play was the best there was.”