What he said in detail:
For AEK’s victory against Volos:
“AEK did not miss the opportunity to be at the top together with PAOK and Olympiacos. The Union showed from the beginning of the match that they wanted the victory at all costs in order to come to a balance. For its part, Volos had two great chances to equalize the match, but it didn’t, AEK found the second goal they were looking for and their life became easier in the rest of the match. With the triple tie we have after the end of the fourth game, we will now have a more competitive championship.
AEK suffered a shock with the elimination in Europe, PAOK had psychological issues with the way the elimination came from Malmo in the Champions League qualifiers. However, both teams now seem to have found their balance and now we will see an interesting Championship that will all be decided in the playoffs”.
On whether a foreign or Greek referee will be appointed in Aris-Olympiakos: “I am always in favor of Greek referees. Besides, we also see the foreigners who come make mistakes – if we exclude the top referee who came to the Toumba derby – for me we should only see Greek referees in the league games. We have not brought only foreign factors to Greece”.
For the Toumba derby that did not produce a winner:“For me it was a pretty good game with both goalkeepers excelling. Chalov started in the starting lineup because Tomas was injured, who is a forward who presses, brings tension to the opposing defense and creates spaces for the rest of the players.
In this particular game, if Panathinaikos left Toumba empty-handed, they would lose a lot of ground even though we are only in the fourth game of the Championship. Ioannidis is having a great season and I hope he continues like this. They are not crazy for not giving him despite the large sums that have been left on the table.
Panathinaikos had problems in the first half, but in the second half they rallied in defense and played with big balls and Ioannidis had enough open spaces.”
For Olympiakos: “Congratulations to Panaitolikos for the way he played in Karaiskakis. Petrakis’ system came out, he worked from the ends, Olympiacos couldn’t find a vertical ball and that’s how he was able to get a big point”.
For the fact that after four league games we already have two coaches leaving: “I envy Lucescu. What Razvan has is a very great luxury, to have a person behind you who says never touch him and don’t give a second thought to that person. I also want to tell a story about it, which I am very happy about. Lucescu started from Xanthi, in November when I, for a very personal matter, left Xanthi.
Thus the way was opened for Lucescu, who at that time was in an academy in Romania. He took my place in a team that reached the Cup final then. And so the road to PAOK was opened. Then Panopoulos and I had built a team from scratch, but I had to leave in November for personal reasons. I’m really glad because I also played some role in Lucescu coming, without him even knowing how he got there. But it was worth it because he showed he can handle it. We talked like rivals, but I never explained to them how it all happened. At some point we may meet and talk.”
On the fact that we don’t see him in any team this year: “After 46 years, this is the first year that I don’t prepare. After Herakles, there were some discussions with 2-3 teams, but there were not the conditions I would have liked.”
Source: Sport Fm
I am currently a news writer for News Bulletin247 where I mostly cover sports news. I have always been interested in writing and it is something I am very passionate about. In my spare time, I enjoy reading and spending time with my family and friends.
