Almeida: “If I planned the match for a draw, it would mean that I would not believe in my players”

Only for her win (despite being able to secure 3rd place with a draw) will line up in Amsterdam against Ajax AEK, as pointed out by Matias Almeida at the press conference ahead of Thursday’s match (14/12, 22:00).

In fact, the “Union” coach did it with his nice special humor. “We have prepared this game to play on the counter attack. We’ll wait… (s.s. he smiled at the end of his sentence, obviously joking). We came here to seek victory. It is not at all in our heads to come and play to get some result. That would do us harm if we thought like that. If I planned a game to look for a draw in the end, then I wouldn’t believe in my players. I know what they can give and really it’s very boring to go out and play a game to get the draw. For a football player, I think it will be very bad to have a coach telling him “everyone back and when you have the opportunity come forward”. I have never seen any small child play looking for the draw. And I want the players to have that mentality, to go out and have fun“, explained characteristically “Pelados”.

The Argentinian technician underlined it confidence that he has in his players but also her a lot of appetite that his team has to continue in Europe.

At the same time, he praised “Aianda” for his football history and his work in the academies, while speaking in better words about the atmosphere of the “Johan Cruyff Arena” (answering a related question), he emphasized that the OPAP Arena is also unique.

In detail, the press conference of Matias Almeidas:

In a group of “death”, AEK has managed to stay alive. How is he thinking about tomorrow’s game?

“I’ve thought a lot and I’m still thinking. I have one more day to think. I believe the group of players I coach is competitive. He has shown character, he has shown a good attitude, that he wants to play football. Of course we wanted to get to tomorrow’s game with more points, but also it’s important to get here and have a chance, to take a step into another European competition. I have a lot of confidence in the players who will be available tomorrow and I can say that I have high expectations for tomorrow’s match.

We are facing a big opponent who has changed his coach, he has changed his way of playing a little bit, since the arrival of the new coach he has changed the results. He got positive results, tomorrow we will do what my players always try to do, to enjoy football».

Is tomorrow’s game, if the qualification comes, the one that will catapult AEK competitively?

“No. Our mindset is always the same. We won’t depend, we won’t let a game affect us on how to proceed. We come here looking for a positive result. Realizing that we always talk about football. But neither a positive result nor a negative one will be able to change the way we work and think and believe».

What does he expect from Ajax differently compared to the first game and what are the elements he has told his players to look out for.

“They are two different teams with the change of coach. Every coach has a different way of training the team, a different system. There are some position changes for some footballers. What I always say and convey to my players is how the opponent plays, to respect all opponents, but for me it is more important how my own players are. If they are good, then we will enjoy a very good game. The opponent has a lot of young footballers, we have good, big footballers.

We all have the mood and the appetite to continue in Europe. We will certainly see a very big game, mainly because we are in one of the temples of world football. If I am not mistaken, the last time I was here was in 2000. Years have passed, I have now seen the players who have passed through here and I can say that it continues to make me happy that we are in a stadium here, it gives me happiness and appetite and the footballers I coach give me this confidence».

Seeing the pictures of all the footballers and knowing the atmosphere that is created here, if he has to motivate the players or try to brake them so they don’t get carried away.

“Players know how to manage it. Our players have their own story too. Our team also has its own story. Also, the atmosphere one can experience at the AEK stadium is also unique. So nothing more will surprise us. The truth is that I get sad a lot of times because these kids are very young and when I see a picture of Van Basten I think if they could have seen him play. There are so many footballers I have seen here, but Van Basten was one of the best in the world.

This club has carved out something special in world football and has also done tremendous work in the academies. And that is why they have produced so many players and will produce more. Seeing pictures can be motivating, but it is by no means a deterrent. It’s good to recognize some things. And there is recognition here at a club that has a history of fine football».

For the fact that AEK can qualify with two results and for the absences it will have in one more game this year.



“We have prepared this game to play on the counter attack. We’ll wait… (s.s. he smiled at the end of his sentence, obviously joking). We came here to seek victory. It is not at all in our heads to come and play to get some result. That would do us harm if we thought like that. If I planned a game to look for a draw in the end, then I wouldn’t believe in my players.

I know what they can give and really it’s very boring to go out and play a game to get the draw. For a football player, I think it will be very bad to have a coach telling him “everyone back and when you have the opportunity come forward”. I have never seen any small child play looking for the draw. And I want the players to have that mentality, to go out and have fun. And you always have fun when you win. If we see that at 30′ we are so and so, then we will all go back (ss laughing). No, no, we came to play our game, as we always do, without thinking that we can look for two results».

Based on the first game, what must AEK have tomorrow to get what they want, qualification.



“I wouldn’t change anything, because we played a very big game. If you remember we had the phase with Jonsson in the last minute. But I’m not saying we played well because of the last phase, but during the whole game I think we did well. After the game we talked together again and said that we didn’t manage to convert the phases we had created into goals. So I hope and wish that tomorrow’s game will be similar, but that we can convert more than one phase into goals. We have a lot of appetite and desire to continue this route. We have worked and devoted a lot of time to this event».