Lucescu: “Fortunately I hadn’t seen Devlin’s… kisses – We will face the match with the utmost respect”

Clear that PAOK will face tomorrow’s match against Aberdeen with the utmost respect was at the press conference Razvan Lucescu.

The Romanian coach, during his statements, referred to the importance of the match with the Scots, while he also answered questions about the team’s major shareholder, Ivan Savvidis, saying that he is the main “responsible” for the course of his “biceps” north”.

Among other things, Lucescu mentioned the differences between Hearts and Aberdeen, while he had a separate conversation about his choices in midfielders.

In detail what he said:

On how the team will handle the big win over Olympiakos: “The truth is that I am satisfied with the result and the appearance. When you are at 86; at 4-0, when you are leading with this score and your opponent is down, you should not allow yourself to be threatened. You must not give possession. We had to keep possession and not allow the opponent to do anything. Koulierakis – for example – made a shot and I can understand that if you go to do something more, something that is not of the moment, you may pay for it. This is my experience and I felt it at that point in time.

This situation happened and a second goal followed, which caused my reaction. It was a moment we should have managed better. What I said after the game to my players is that they have my utmost respect for this result and that we should keep the confidence it gave us, but nothing more and that we should focus on the third game. In football, when you are arrogant, you pay for it. Devlin 2-0 Aberdeen started sending kisses to the bench. So what; We made it 3-2. And for Koulierakis and for everyone, it might have been a situation that happened at 4-0, but you can find yourself in a situation like that at 1-0 or 2-0. It is much more important to know when to manage the ball better, so as not to give our opponent the opportunity to come back into the game with something. We thought that we have a game in the week after Olympiakos, which in case of victory gives us the qualification probably and we said that a training should follow immediately after the match”

On Devlin’s move and his reaction: “I didn’t see it at the time, I was informed after the game by those who saw his movement. It surprised even my players. Better that I didn’t see it, because I don’t know how I would have reacted at the time.”

For the Harts & Aberdeen differences: “I don’t want to get into comparisons. Aberdeen is a disciplined team, they are not that aggressive, but they have intense pressing that if you pass it you can find spaces, if not you will find two lines of players. We should treat the game with the utmost respect. It is a game that will mark an eventual qualification. The tradition of the British and Scottish teams is to fight games to the max.”.

For Ivan Savvidis: “The truth is that we have arrived here because of this. This is the leader of the team, he has brought PAOK to this point of competing with the Athens teams and the whole system. He makes the mark. It has made me a better professional and made me a winner”

For his midfield choices: “Marcos Antonio was out for 3 months, now he has started training. He has 1.5 regular, full training sessions with the team. Every player reacts completely differently to injury situations. Marcos because of his body type and quality, he can be a bit faster with us, but he has done very little full training. We have to be a little patient and give it the time it takes to not have a problem. After the match with Beitar, in a conversation with fans, they asked me what would happen, that we should make an… invention to pass. There was no absolute optimism. An important element we have is the use of many players, which gave us different quality and mental freshness. It allowed us to treat all teams with equal opportunities against the system we know. This has brought us to where we are today. With this we have achieved what we have achieved. Football players will definitely improve as time goes by, through the games as well”