Sokratis Papastathopoulos revealed the thought he had when his collaboration with Olympiakos ended, what his last year as a football player would be like in an interview he gave to the Spanish newspaper, Relevo. The Greek ace spoke about his decision to join Betis and the older teams in his career.
His interview with Relevo in detail.
“I love Seville, I really like it. It’s a great city, I feel very good in the team, even better than I thought before I came. It’s a very big team, very competitive. They are a good family. I knew Betis was a big team, but I didn’t expect Betis to have so many fans everywhere.”
On the differences he has found in relation to other leagues:
“There are differences in all teams. Either from Germany to Italy or from England. What I like here is a team that has a lot of fans, a city that lives football with passion. It is a very strong league technically, with many teams that play well with the ball. Many players spoke well of LaLiga and it was a dream to be able to play here.”
On whether he thinks La Liga is at Premier League level:
“The Premier League is a very difficult league, the most difficult for everyone. Since he has a lot of money, it is normal to be able to buy high level players. But LaLiga is at a very high level. Real Madrid, Barcelona… Teams that are doing very well in Europe.”
About the agreement with Betis:
“First, I had other offers. Then I had to talk to the family twice and think it over carefully. I’m a person that if I’m going to play for a team I’m not doing it for money, I have to be sure I’m going to play well. We spent ten days thinking about it. I spoke to Hector Bergerin, Mark Batra. They helped me a lot. I was told that this group was a family and that I would come to help. “We need an experienced player to help the team.” All this helped me decide.
On whether he expected his career to continue after you returned to Greece for Olympiakos:
“No, when I finished with Olympiakos I thought it would be my last year. We didn’t win the championship there but I thought I could play one more year in a new experience. The offer from Betis came, which allowed me to fulfill the task of playing in the four most competitive leagues. For me this is a special and important experience.”
On whether he missed football:
“Yes, normal, when you play for 20 years it’s not easy to forget it. I continued training every day with a trainer. I thought that if a big offer comes, from a team like Betis, for example, why not play again.”
Source: Sport Fm
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