Lucescu: “The… first half is just over – We’ve proved we can come back”

Two goals from the formidable Petkovic forced a 2-0 defeat PAOK against the Dinamo Zagrebwith the Thessalonians looking for a big upset in the Toumba rematch.

THE Razvan Lucescuspoke at the press conference on the smart way of playing of the Croatians, who took advantage of what the Thessalonikians gave them, while he gave the signal for a change of scenery ahead of the rematch, stressing that the PAOK he has proven that he can do it.

Analytically:

On the loss to Dinamo: “Dinamo played smart. We were defeated by ourselves. They scored two goals from a mistake of ours and giving the ball away in a situation that we should have handled differently. The score reflects our mistakes. I don’t know if we lacked courage. More is management in our mistakes. We didn’t manage possession well, unlike maybe Dinamo. This is how the team’s confidence drops. In the end I saw that they celebrated a little more, maybe they were counting on this game a lot”.

On what led to the result: “Dinamo didn’t create that many chances. They have a very good striker, a strong personality. He is at the point where he can score. On the other hand, our strikers did not get such balls to compare. You know the schedule we have had since January. It is the first half of the battle. There is one more game in Thessaloniki. We have shown during the season that we can come back from a 2-0 game.”

On the chances he gives his team to pull off the upset: “For some it may be 80-20 but my team will fight in Toumba to chase their chances. The… first half is just over. It’s not game over. There is one more match in Thessaloniki. And we have proven at other times during the season that we can come back.”