Almeida: “I enjoy being the coach of AEK – Let’s have a very good run”

AEK’s goal for a good course was emphasized by Matias Almeida at the press conference ahead of the first match with Antwerp (22/8, 22:00), in Antwerp for the Champions League Playoffs. The coach of the Greek doubles underlined that he enjoys being the coach of “Enos”.

Almeida referred to the very short amount of time AEK have had to prepare after their epic qualification win over Dinamo Zagreb last Saturday (19/8), explaining that his side have only had time for one training session.

From there, he commented on his team’s victory (3-0) in the friendly against Antwerp during the summer, pointing out that tomorrow’s match will be difficult and that AEK on the one hand respects its opponent, on the other hand wants to do the her own game.

In detail, Matias Almeida spoke about:

-the match with Antwerp: “We have studied the opponent as we study all opponents. We have taken the time we think is necessary. We had very few days after the game, for the reasons we all know. We have managed to do only one training session. The truth is that we have collected more information from the training we have done».

-how AEK is in terms of mental readiness after the epic qualification over Dinamo Zagreb: “Initially, our goal was to get to the next round, so we could face this opponent. So mentally we were ready. We understood a huge effort, but now we are happy and glad to know that we are already in the Europa League. And our goal is one more, to go through this qualifier as well».

-whether he considers that the differences in tactical and competitive level will be very big compared to the friendly of the summer: “Obviously, it will be completely different from the game we played during the pre-season against Antwerp. We will face an opponent who has a very good operation. A team work very good. It has fast and dynamic footballers. They won exactly the same as us last year. They will be two teams with a slightly different style, but with exactly the same intention which will be to win. So the game will be difficult. We respect the opponent, but we want to play our game».

-if these matches are the reason he has come to Europe, to face coaches like Guardiola, Ancelotti and Simeone: “All I was thinking about when I came to Greece was to be able to keep my position and God help me to get a championship. I saw that in front of me all year and to be here and to play in this event is the consequence of the original goal that I had, to win the championship.

Then, in relation to the coaches I will face, it is almost 13 years that I complete as a coach and I also have a history as a football player and I really do not enter into any process of comparison or imagining what they have experienced. I am grateful to be here. I enjoy being the coach of AEK and I want us to have a very good run because I have a lot of confidence in the players I coach. But because I was a player there is something else. Now, we are coaches and not football players. The important people here are the footballers and I am not interested in getting into a competitive process with other coaches».