Contis: “It was a good effort, we will be even better in the Cup final”

After a satisfying but also… episodic derby, Panathinaikos and Olympiacos drew 2-2 at “Apostolos Nikolaidis”, for the 10th and last matchday of the Stoiximan Super League playoffs.

After the match, Christos Kontis he talked about the fact that his team wronged themselves, while he emphasized that he expects an even better performance in cup final by Mars.

In detail what the green coach said at the press conference:

What was Panathinaikos’ fault for not winning despite the very good performance of the first half: “Indeed, we felt it too. We played the game we wanted, we had chances, we created tension, nice combinations, but unfortunately in the second half we had some forced substitution problems, with Cerin, Juancar and Bernard. At 2-0, Olympiacos pressed harder but we didn’t feel threatened. That goal by Pontense came in and it knocked us down psychologically. Unfortunately, because it was a very good effort. When you’re 2-0 at home, you have to find a way to keep the result and not concede a goal.”

On the biggest problem he was asked to manage on his return: “You can’t do much in two days. More we tried to stimulate the team psychologically, to give a game plan to get their ideas and our ideas out on the field. More with video. In such a situation, we cannot think about the past. I’m an optimistic person by nature, we have five days ahead of us, a big game and all we have to do is think about how we’re going to win it. I think we will be even better, through training we will manage to get more things out on the pitch.”

For the extra stress that Panathinaikos will have as the exit to Europe is also at stake: “These games are for the big players. We have very good players and they will have to cope. There is definitely psychological stress in these games. The roster has very good players, I believe in them a lot. Nothing is impossible. We have to put this game to the side and see how we can win Saturday’s game.”