Martinez: “If I pay attention to what I hear in Greece I will go crazy – Let’s give everything for the qualification”

The press conference ahead of Olympiakos’ away match against Genk, for the 3rd qualifying round of this year’s Europa League, has ended.

From the “red and white” side, o Diego Martinez he responded to a question about who he will pick in his eleven by saying that if he pays attention to what is being said in Greece he will … go crazy, while he then made it clear that his team will need to show their personality and concentration if they want to to get the qualification against a very quality team.

In detail what the coach of Olympiakos said:



On whether he will make changes to the lineup and that they say a winning lineup doesn’t change: “If I pay attention to what I hear in Greece I will go crazy. As in Spain, football is a passion and we all have an opinion. That’s why football attracts people, it interests everyone. We have a specific plan, to build a competitive team, to have the ability to win in this and the next games. Changes are necessary for a team to be competitive, all players must be ready. When you are blessed to play every three days, you have to be ready and utilize all the depth on your roster. We want Panos to have chemistry with Nikos, Jackson to have chemistry with Doi and everyone with everyone”.

On whether this time there will be other players: “I will announce the lineup before going out on the pitch, we have one more training session. Experience tells me not to rush, it takes a full 24 hours. I want to emphasize the difficulty of the match. Genk is a very good team, we play in an environment against us. We have to be focused, everyone has to give it their all. I insist that a player who will play ten minutes can have a more decisive role than one who will play 80 minutes”.

On whether he expects more pressure and how he’ll handle the lead: “As I said in the previous game, qualification will be decided in the second match. We will go in with the intention of winning, as befits the DNA of our team. We will definitely need concentration at a high level, we will need all the personality and team spirit, we will play against a team with a good attacking function, we will need to give more continuity to the good performance, because we lost it at some points in the previous match. We will need emotional control, personality and focus to execute our plan and be successful in our offensive efforts.”.

For Genk having more official matches: “For sure Genk is more in shape, it’s important, but not decisive. Olympiacos has players who have recently arrived, our level of preparation is not the same as Genk’s. Many times the fitness level differs between the players in the team, surely the changes will be affected by that as well. Football is a game of tactics, concentration and emotional control play a role, as well as the talent we have and want to show. We are here to play, our ambition to qualify is big and more important than anything else.”.

About the European Super Cup and who he supports: “All my concentration is on Olympiakos, we are concentrating on our own project and our own ambitions, there is nothing else on our minds”.