It is a one-way street for him Olympic the victory against the AEKas reported by José Luis Mendilibar, speaking to Cosmote TV.
“We definitely have to beat AEK. We are now playing for our final position in the standings and we definitely want to secure a European ticket through the championship. We all know that there is a scenario where we finish fourth in the league and Aris wins the Cup and then we will be out of Europe“, pointed out the 63-year-old technician.
At the same time, the experienced coach sounded the alarm ahead of the Conference League final. “We can’t slow down and expect that in 15 days when the Conference final will take place, we will suddenly be very good. You have to keep fighting, keep your performance high because it is certain that if we give up at this moment then we will reach the Conference final in a bad situation“, emphasized the coach of Piraeus.
He spoke in detail to Cosmote TV about:
– where the title was lost: “Since the start of this mini league we have lost three games. One from Panathinaikos, the first. The other against AEK and the last against PAOK. We also lost another two points with Aris.
The first defeat and the last are the results that bothered us the most because we didn’t play well. With Aris we played to win but we didn’t succeed and against AEK we were very good and deserved the victory, but at the last moment we lost the match. What bothers me the most is the last match, the one against PAOK, because a lot of time has passed since the game against Panathinaikos and we shouldn’t show this image.
It might have been justified to have a bad match in my first time here, but after so many weeks where the team has established a consistency of good performance, this was something we did not expect. In these two matches, the opponents played better than us and I think that is where the biggest problem arose».
-whether he has considered the possibility that things would have been different if he had come earlier: “When I accepted the offer to come here, I accepted it along with the conditions that existed. Therefore I have no right to ask for more time. I came with the data and conditions that existed then, knowing the time ahead of me».
– the match with AEK: “We definitely have to beat AEK. We are now playing for our final position in the standings and we definitely want to secure a European ticket through the championship. We all know that there is a scenario where we finish fourth in the league and Aris wins the Cup and then we will be out of Europe.
Therefore, we must definitely win the remaining matches to be at least third in the league, and then if the Conference final gives us a better European ticket, welcome. Until then, however, we must have secured our place in Europe through the championship».
-how easy it is to concentrate the team in the league while the final of the Conference League is ahead: “This is what I told my players before the match with PAOK and I told them today as well. We must continue to compete at the top level. We have to be very good in all our games until then.
We can’t slow down and expect that in 15 days when the Conference final will take place, we will suddenly be very good. You have to keep fighting, keep your performance high because it is certain that if we give up at this moment then we will reach the Conference final in a bad situation».
From the side of Karmotold Cosmote TV: “It is very difficult to determine when the championship was lost because the year is so long. There are definitely games where we should have had a better image and better results. We didn’t manage to win some important matches and that’s where I think our chance was lost. However, it is not yet time to take stock. There are still two games left which we must win to secure our place in Europe and then focus on the Conference Final».
On whether it is difficult to concentrate the team in the championship while there is a European final: “I think these three league games really came very quickly after the big game we played on Thursday. We didn’t even have time to rejoice and celebrate our qualification to the final because right after that we had to prepare for the next game. I think the problem is mainly the program. How quickly these games came for the league and not the games themselves. We had little time to rest and go give these games away».
About the match with AEK:We remember very well that the last time we faced them we lost in the last minute, but this time the game will be different. We will play at home, with the support of our amazing crowd and we have to play a very good game, to win. We have to prove that we are a very good team and for this reason we are in a European final».
Source: Sport Fm
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