Jovanovic: “It’s too early to realize what we’ve achieved – We never gave up”

Absolutely satisfied and proud to qualify on her Marseillebut also of the effort of his players, he appeared at the press conference Ivan Jovanovich.

His Serbian technician Panathinaikoufocused on the difficulties faced by the “greens” in the two games against Marseilles, but also in the profits that his team obtained from this great qualification.

What Ivan Jovanovic said in detail:



As to whether he has understood what he has done: “It’s early for me and my players. Based on the result and the image of the first game we believed it. In today’s match we suffered. It was a game of emotional swings. We are happy, but it is too early to know what we have achieved. It is a very beautiful evening for us and for the friends of the team”.

For today’s qualifier – thriller: “All this is a continuation. There is pressure and we are always willing to respond well. We have a huge history. We have been trying for these two years to take a step. I’m happy because I have a lot of serious guys in the locker room. They understand how important this is to the organization. It’s hard, but when you don’t achieve your goals things are hard. As time goes by, we will have bigger goals ahead of us.”

On what today’s victory means to him: “It’s something we discussed with the players. For the opponent, for the atmosphere. They are experiences for all of us. Great experiences. We know that whether we are in the Europa League groups or the Champions League groups we will have opponents like that. We want to go like this until the end. How last year ended saddened us and everyone. Our performance last year and this year’s qualifiers show that we deserve everyone’s respect. Against such opponents you experience football at its true value.”

What impressed him most about his players: “The pace was at such a tempo that we were not used to. We conceded a goal that gave Marseille confidence and another at the end of the first 45 minutes. We were pressed in the first part. We knew that during the second half we would have to score a goal to be in the qualification. We moved the game to the opponent’s side. Extra time was difficult because we had players with cards.

Mental reserves and composure led us to go to penalties. In the two games where qualification is the goal, we don’t need to do so much analysis since it was the main goal for us after the first match. If there is faith and willingness and not to surrender to the superiority of the opponent. You will achieve what you want. Even in the end we managed it”.

On whether he thinks the readiness of the two teams played a role: “The quality of Marseille played a role. We conceded the first goal from wrong positioning. Marseille are a team with tremendous quality and they were pressuring us from the moment they equalized the score of the first leg. Our reaction to the opponent’s pressure in the first half was not rational. This resulted in Marseille pressing us and forcing their pace. In the second half we balanced and are more organized, in order to claim something more. It’s a very complicated game. After half time and while it was 2-0 we showed composure and did not rush. We took advantage of the opportunities, scored the goal and sent the match to overtime.”

On whether he considers what he did in the first match or today’s match to be more difficult: “We played against an excellent team. The first game was actually a very good game. In the first half we suffered, but in the second we found the solutions. We knew from the draw that Marseille have the best chance. The first game was ours, while today in the second part we changed the balance. It is important against such teams to take advantage of your opportunity. We never gave up.”