Emery on Martines: “I will talk to him and the doctors – If he is not 100%, Olsen will play”

Reality or some… mind game?

THE Unai Emery revealed at today’s press conference that it is not certain that Mr Dibu Martins will compete in her rematch Aston Villa by Olympic in “Georgios Karaiskakis”.

In a question received by the Basque technician about the situation of the Argentine keeper, he confirmed that he traveled to Greece with the mission, but it has not yet been determined whether he will start in the starting line-up. If he is not at 100%, then he will get the starting jersey Robin Olsenas happened in the first match of the two teams.

“I don’t know if Martines will play in the match, he is with us. He had an injury, we will talk tomorrow and if he is absolutely ready he will play. Olsen is an excellent goalkeeper and person. I believe in him. It is not easy to replace the best goalkeeper in the world. He is always ready, with Brighton he played fantastically. With Olympiakos, he couldn’t do anything more. If he plays tomorrow he will have all our respect, as always and as we do with any player who is not considered in the starting lineup”Emery emphasized about Martinez.

Emi Martinez has traveled with his teammates to Greece and could start for #AVFC tomorrow night.

Unai Emery confirms he will speak with Martinez and the doctor tomorrow to decide whether he or Robin Olsen will play in goal.

— John Townley (@johntownley11) May 8, 2024

Subsequently, Unai Emery essentially deified Olympiacossaying that if his team wants to pull off the upset in the second leg, they will have to play like the “red and whites” did in the first game.

At the same time, he emphasized that “the way Olympiacos played, the whole idea of ​​Medilibar was imprinted on the pitch” and stated that he was not surprised by their image Piraeus.

“It will be very difficult tomorrow, the crowd will help the team a lot. We must not think about the first match, use our experience and have a better plan than the one that didn’t work in the first match. The biggest challenge for this year is for us this semi-final! To show our quality as a team. I have not talked about past achievements to my players, we are talking about our performances this year. And the reactions we had after bad results. This is what we will try to do now. I try to help players for this reaction.

Medilibar and Ibora know me well, as I know them. Mendilibar is an excellent coach in Spain, Olympiacos football is in line with his philosophy. Ibora played fantastically, I appreciate him immensely, we have won a lot together. He showed us what a good level he is at and how much he can transmit his competitiveness to his teammates. We also have such players who have won titles and have great performances from the Premier League.”

How do you feel not being favorites for the trophy anymore like you have been all season?

“Olympiacos is clearly the favorite for qualification. It was no surprise to me, the way Olympiacos played, the whole concept of Mendiliber was reflected on the pitch. Olympiacos is a very experienced team in Europe, so it was not a surprise for me. It’s just that some circumstances were against us. We all make mistakes but we conceded a goal for every mistake we made. We should now be more efficient, competitive, effective. If we score consistently we will draw the match, hopefully it goes for more than 90 minutes, that will be good for us. We may have been the favorite, which I don’t accept, but you have to show that on the field.”

We are enjoying our course this year, we have had great moments. I told my players I want more of these. I’m proud of this year even if we weren’t always perfect. We have more matches ahead of us, I don’t know how many yet. I want us to play excellently against Olympiacos, to be focused, as Olympiacos was, who have a very good team in the first game.”