Almeida: “In football, very small mistakes make the difference – We missed the goal”

About the exclusion of AEK from Antwerp, he spoke at the press conference Matias Almeida.

The Argentinian coach emphasized that the goal was missed for his team, but he will continue in an equally important competition, the Europa League. At the same time, he said that he really wanted the qualification, because it will be difficult for him to be in the groups of the top inter-club competition as a coach.

In detail what he said:

What did AEK lack to keep the Champions League dream alive?

“First of all I would like to congratulate the opponent. What did we miss? Something very important in football. Very small mistakes make all the difference. In these competitions you make one mistake and you are out. We’ve seen it many times. The team in general was good. He did what he had to do. The goal we scored came quite late, but I appreciate how the players gave their hearts. People helped too. At this moment, a dream has been lost, which I don’t know if as a coach I will be able to have again.”

For the calculation of the two matches, even if the first match played more of a role? If AEK could get something more there?

“Now it is too late. In the first game, especially in the second half, we did well, but we missed the goal. We were able to have control against an opponent who makes the difference in his league by holding the ball. We had to pay attention to the small details tonight and we had discussed that. The first goal we conceded came from a corner. Anyone who wants to play in the Champions League cannot make such small… big mistakes. The team showed character and personality. Try to make phases from everywhere, right, left and axis. Four days have passed since the championship match. If we can compare it was the same: one mistake, one goal. We had many chances and we didn’t manage to score”.

For Levi Garcia’s absence, even if it was decisive?

“Leivai is our scorer. Both in tonight’s game Ponce, and Van Weert in the previous game, are trying to do their best, but with different characteristics. The truth is that Levi is really important to us.”

How does the team overcome this lost dream to move forward?

“In football what you have to do is keep going. If we let sadness affect us it will take us steps backwards. We all made a great effort to qualify. We didn’t make it, but we will play in another very important tournament. For some reason some things happen, I say… The footballers will have the possibility at another time to be competitive and to be in the Champions League. It will be harder for me to happen as a coach! That’s why I wanted this goal. Of course, we now have the Europa League. We will try to do our best, as we do in every game. We will try in Europe for AEK to earn respect, as it did in this game.”