Athanasiou: “The elimination is a lesson for Panathinaikos, a profit for the club full of young OAKA players”

His own comment for his exclusion Panathinaikou at Champions League playoffs did the Nikos Athanasiou to News Bulletin 247.

“Let’s have health and move forward. This is football. I will say something, so that I can hear it myself, the real mirror of football in our country is the stadiums. Everyone can say what they want, with arguments, but everything is proven on the field. Yesterday 70,000 people deified the world, but at the same time on social media you read points and monsters about the coach or the players“, was his first comment.

“The course of Panathinaikos in the Champions League qualifiers has a double meaning, one has to do with the goal, first eliminating Dnipro and then Marseille, putting an extra 5-6 million euros in its coffers. If we look at his whole journey in the Champions League qualifiers, it is completely successful. The second reading for the matches with Braga, Panathinaikos wronged itself. Braga have made the most of Panathinaikos’ big mistakes, who were significantly behind – although superior throughout the match – in the big chances they had to score“, he added.

And he went on to say:When at this level, you don’t finish these phases, and the opponent, with a mistake by Magnuson, Braga unlocks an opportunity and scores. The same happened in Portugal. These are lessons that Panathinaikos must take, who will not go to the Europa League groups just to get in and will have to star. At this level, one-two-three mistakes pay dearly. In both games against the Portuguese, there was the same problem. It hurts more when you are good, and the bitterness is greater. The biggest gain of Panathinaikos from this entire course, is OAKA and the young guys who lived and experienced the real size of the team. And for these guys, this is the biggest gain, despite the packed OAKA did not celebrate at the end of this match».

Regarding the criticism of the changes, he underlined: “I don’t think that Panathinaikos lost because of Jovanovic’s choices. Yesterday two phases on the line, Ioannidis didn’t catch up and Vagiannidis’ header was the two big phases in the first half. In the replay he had his chances again and the game was decided down to the last detail. The game was not lost due to the coach changes. Ioannidis, as I saw him from the stadium, did not have the stamina to give anything more. And this is something that Ioannidis needs to improve».