Schwab: “The result gives us chances to qualify for Toumba”

Stefan Schwab expressed the opinion that even the defeat in the first match against AEK at Opap Arena is not a condemnation for PAOK and that the qualification can come to Toumba. The ace of the North Biceps spoke to Metropolis after yesterday’s match, and among other things, he admitted that the image of his team in Philadelphia was not what it should be.

What the Austrian PAOK midfielder said in detail:

Regarding the elements that affected the competitive image of PAOK:

“We knew from the beginning that we had a difficult game ahead of us against a good team. To be honest, we certainly didn’t do anything well that we usually do well on the pitch. We didn’t manage the situations well on the pitch, we didn’t have the image we have shown in the last games. Our biggest problem in the first half was that we weren’t dangerous at all offensively. In defense with some small details, I think the team did a good job but in attack we were not what we should have been. We went to the dressing room with 0-0 and in the second half and after 1-0, it was a 50-50 game, the result gives us the chances to believe in qualifying for the game in Toumba. Everything is open despite the fact that we were not the ones we should have been for such an important game.”



On what was said inside the locker room during halftime:



“I wasn’t in the dressing room at half-time, because I had gone out on the pitch to warm up with the other substitutes. I believe that AEK’s goal early in the second half changed the shape of the match because we became more aggressive in marking and more aggressive. Despite the fact that we didn’t score, but we conceded, it gave us the impetus to improve some things on the pitch. It’s kind of weird but that’s how I felt about this fight. We definitely became more creative after the 1-0 and we created phases to score at least one goal. We put one on with Samata but it was ruled out for a marginal offside. In the last 30 minutes we had the image we wanted and should have had from the beginning of the match. After the goal, AEK changed its plan, went further back on the field and we reached the opponent’s area more easily. In any case, despite our not-so-good image, we lost 1-0 and it is a result that gives us the possibility to reverse this score at home in the second match”.

The Austrian, one of the captains of PAOK, also referred to the elements that Dikefalos needs to change in view of the rematch between the two teams: “This game in Toumba will obviously be a completely different game. I think that all over the football world when you have Cup matches in the first leg it is not so decisive because there is the second leg which usually decides the qualifiers. In the second game in Toumba there will be a qualification on the table. We have to push AEK like… crazy. Let’s be more aggressive, we will play at home where our crowd will give us a boost with its own excellent atmosphere as in every match. It will be a completely different game and we should not pay so much attention to what happened in the first match. We have two more games ahead of us and a break until it’s time to play game no. 2 against AEK. When the time comes we will concentrate to present ourselves better and get the qualification to continue in the event we want to conquer”.