Castorina: “Strange things happened – Baba’s first yellow card”

One of the associates of the suspended Razvan Lucescu, Paolo Castorina, referred mainly to the refereeing at the press conference shortly after Panathinaikos’ 2-1 win over PAOK.

As he pointed out, he considers Baba’s first yellow card to be far-fetched, he claimed that the dismissal changed the situation in the match, Karipidis unjustly saw the red and talked about strange things that happened.

The press conference in detail:

-What do you keep most from this game?

“As I said earlier, when we played 11 against 11, the match was controlled. In the second half we had a very big chance but Dragovski made a great intervention. I don’t want to say anything else. Baba’s first yellow card was far fetched.

Our players gave a very good performance. For the most part, we controlled the match, we were in control. After the first two goals the match was balanced. The abortion changed the whole situation. I don’t want to go into details. The first yellow card was given very easily. It is difficult to play for 37 minutes with 10 players and at a high level”.

– PAOK is the only team that did not win a derby. Is it a matter of details? maybe circumstances? What is your opinion?

“Yes, what you say is true. But there is nothing more specific about the game. I understand that derbies are very important. But our team has managed to keep the balance. Within the game there are details that do not depend on us. We had a chance to score, but we couldn’t. I would not really concur with your point. However, all teams are very close in the standings. In the end, the score speaks in the end. They are more complex as games. This match was more like the Toumba match. It’s also a matter of details”.

– What can this defeat mean, in view of the match with AEK?

“We have already spoken to the players. We know we have a big game on Thursday. We don’t need to say anything more about the following match. We have the great opportunity to claim and do what we can more. It’s a good opportunity for the players to get a reaction and they know it very well. We are used to playing every three days. We face a total difficulty”.

-On Thursday in the Cup match, who will be on the bench after the suspensions?

“I don’t want to cover anyone up. Karipidis did nothing and got the red card unfairly. Some of the things that happened in this game were strange. My face says it all. I don’t want to justify anything. There was no reason for dismissal. In this match, the bench was like a normal game. We know the situations, we should also improve. Maybe this will give us an extra motivation. We have to raise our heads and look ahead”.