Alonso: “We know what we have to do and what we want to do – I have settled on tomorrow’s line-up”

Panathinaikos gives its night Thursday (25/7) at OAKA the first official match of the new season, hosting it Botev Blvd as part of its second qualifying round Europa League.

The coach of the “clover”, Diego Alonsoduring the press conference, in view of tomorrow’s match, with his statements, he revealed that he has already decided on the eleven that will “go down” on the pitch, he emphasized that his team knows very well what they have to do, while he underlined that Panathinaikos, despite the fact that they are favorites, will not underestimate the Bulgarian team, but instead will respect them.

In detail what he said:

-What should the team do to take the first step towards qualification and at what level of readiness is it at the moment, both competitively and mentally.

“Let me start with the second question. The team is very good mentally, they are ready. They are playing well, they are a team that can respond and of course as time goes on we will have more and more improvement and we will see the development game by game. For tomorrow, we have to show a lot of respect to our opponent, show concentration and play with intensity. Let us play better than our opponent.”

-In the last two friendlies, you had the chance to try out some shapes and faces. Have you settled on tomorrow’s lineup?

“Yes, I have decided how I will play tomorrow. Of course I won’t tell you.”

-Panathinaikos has a long European history, usually the year is largely judged by the European presence. So there is a lot of pressure. Have you felt this? That there is pressure with a world that is demanding and a team that is intertwined with European successes.

“Where we see a difficulty, I personally see an opportunity. In every difficulty I see a solution and I am optimistic. I also have a lot of confidence in my players, in everything that the management is already trying to do. As I said, the finish photo will be on 8/31. This is a statement I have made before. Tomorrow’s opponent, while not a favorite, was able to pass in this phase. So it’s a team that has quality. It is a difficult team, which needs and will have our respect. But we know what we want and what we have to do.”

-Is there a chance to underestimate your opponent due to the big difference in budget?

“That’s what you said. We never said that we underestimate the opponent. On the contrary, we said that we respect him very much.”

-Does Botev’s qualification over Maribor show that it has some strong elements that can affect your team?

“Undoubtedly our opponent has strong points and deserved to qualify.”