Terim: “The referees are strange on this pitch, but that doesn’t change that AEK deserved to win”

The coach of Panathinaikos made statements at the press conference after the defeat in the away derby with AEK. Fatih Terimstating that referees are strange when they come to the Union ground, but making it clear that this does not change the fact that the home side were the ones who deserved to win.

In detail what the Panathinaikos coach stated at the press conference:



On what he was to blame for the ugly competitive image presented by his team: “We didn’t play well today. Let me start by saying congratulations to our opponent. They played well, they deserved to win today. We didn’t play well, as soon as we conceded the goal early, our balance was lost. As time went on, we continued to play worse. The only thing we can discuss is if the penalty had been awarded to Kotsiras, would we have been able to get into the game. Probably the refs are a little weird on this pitch whenever they come. And this referee probably doesn’t have much quality. This does not change that AEK deserved the victory today, they played better. Regardless, I say it. When describing the game, we don’t have much to say. If it had been 1-1 with the penalty, we could have said different things. We made things easier for the opponent, we gave them enough space, in the center we gave them enough balls. A draw or a win could have completely changed our position. In the end we lost the match and I didn’t think we could turn the match around. We didn’t play well”.

On how much he thinks the score has been affected by the refereeing: “Now you ask us and we talk about the game. As a reporter you have the right to tell us if we played well or not. The only one who is not affected and does not care is the referee. We lost today, it wasn’t from the penalty. The VAR didn’t say anything either, didn’t call him. And then you come and give us a yellow card and tell us that we don’t respect you. How do you want us to respect you? And if we had scored with the penalty, we might have lost again. A penalty that is so obvious, there is no reason to bring a referee from France and spend money on it.”.

On whether he considers that the championship has been lost for Panathinaikos: “Until the final whistle, we have no intention of giving up. If we have a chance, we will pursue it to the end. We may have been defeated today, but all is not lost. We just lost a huge advantage today, at least on paper. But as you see the results, everything can change. That is why we have no intention of giving up, we will pursue it until the end”.