Lucescu: “How can a referee come from abroad and do such refereeing?”

As in his statements immediately after the end of the derby with Panathinaikosas well as at the press conference, o Razvan Lucescu complained about the arbitration.

The coach of PAOK said that “a penalty is given that is not, like the one they were given with Atromitos. The way he whistled some fouls, Jedvai should have been sent off twice today, in the end he could have scored and Panathinaikos would have equalised. I don’t understand what they are doing, what they are trying to do.”

Beyond that, the Romanian coach also spoke about stress, Despontov-Tyson, transfers and the world of the team.

What he said in detail:

On whether PAOK was stressed: “The truth is we missed some chances, that can happen. It has nothing to do with the fact that it was a derby. We created more chances against a good team. The important thing is that we won a game not just against a team but also against a referee.”

On the kiss to Tyson after the second goal: “First of all I kissed Tyson for the actions he took. Second, he was disappointed with the referee’s penalty decision. He was saying it couldn’t be a penalty. As for Despodov, he has improved a lot, he helps us in the tactical part and now he is very useful. It could be someone else in another game. The season is halfway through, we have a lot of games and we will need the players to be ready at all times to be able to help.”

For the arbitration: “Initially they are given a penalty which is not, like the one they were given with Atromitos. The way he whistled some fouls, Jedvai should have been sent off twice today, in the end he could have scored and Panathinaikos would have equalised. I don’t understand what they are doing, what they are trying to do. How can an arbitrator come from abroad and do this arbitration? It is the first time that there are trained players in the team like Tyson and Murg, coming out as a substitute and saying that what was being done on the field made no sense. We have the feeling of bad refereeing.”

For Despontoff-Tyson changes: “We knew they had some little problems, Despontov had cramps, Tyson could go on 10 to 15 more minutes. We have players with different characteristics, the strength of a team is to have players to provide freshness and impetus when needed.”

For solutions on the bench and transfers: “The most important thing is the work, we have found balance and chemistry between us, we have 4 options in the attacking midfielders and another 4 in the central axis. We discovered a position for Marcos Antonio behind the striker. He was held back by an injury, he should get time again, play to reach the level we want. It is very important. We played a series without Ekong-Samata, the former is having a good tournament. The result is decided by the players who finish a game, if the team is ahead in the score they have to secure the result, if they are behind they have to turn the situation around. In the match against Aberdeen the changes helped to win the game, these situations show that there is deep rooted work in the team. Certainly what we bring to the team is what we need. If the transfer window can offer us a gift, a player with a different quality, fine, if not we won’t get it.”

For the absence of the fans: “The truth is that the atmosphere would have been more explosive, the pressure they put on the opponent and the energy they transfer to our own team would have made the match completely different. We are waiting to see if and how they come back to give us a boost. Things were incredible at the hotel, in the whole world only in Thessaloniki these things can happen. And yes, imagine what feeling and motivation the presence of the fans would give to the footballers. Today was not an easy game against a team that eliminated Olympiacos in the cup, AEK got a draw in the last minute. Today’s presence of our footballers was top level”.