Artur Jorge: “The most important matches in Braga’s recent history are the ones against Panathinaikos”

A big game is ahead of him Panathinaikoswhich gives Portugal the first of two Champions League playoff games against Braga.

The coach of “Arsenalista”, Arthur George, anything but… he underestimated the importance of these games. On the contrary, he called them “the most important in the recent history of the team”, even speaking in the best words about the quality of Panathinaikou.

What he said in detail:

For Braga’s readiness: “Our mood is to show our ambitions and our determination. We face a series of matches that will be the most important in Braga’s recent history. We are two games away from achieving a decisive goal to rehabilitate Braga. Panathinaikos showed quality in the last two qualifiers. This is proven and is a team that develops internally. We will have a difficult game, with two teams that want to be in the next phase of the Champions League.”

On whether it’s a good thing that the first game is at home: “Playing the first game at home could mean we can get a positive result for the second game. Let’s hope we rise to the challenge, because the importance is huge. We can count on our fans, who had a remarkable presence and can be the extra element to reach our goal. Entering the group stage will be very important.”

On whether he prefers offense to defense: “Braga is a team balanced and stable in its team profile. We have twelve goals so far in official matches. We see the team as a whole. The goal is to win the game, regardless of what the offensive and defensive performance may be. Of course they want my players not to concede goals. We don’t split the team into two, a defensive block and an attacking block. We want to be complete. Above all, it is important not to leave opportunities to the opponent.”

For transfers: “I know there’s a week left before the market closes. But we have this very important game ahead of us. That’s where all our attention is.”

For Panathinaikos: “They are an aggressive team and quick in transitions. Within the 4-3-3 he always seeks to finish his actions. Through the wings it creates some imbalance in the opponent that we will try to deal with. They have players with individual quality like us and we will try to take advantage of the attacking moments. At this level there are no better or worse teams, those who got here did it because they deserve it. We should take a serious, committed approach. The opponent will be very competitive against us.”