Olof Mellberg, Vodafone MVP
Olof Mellberg was voted by the journalists who attended the match between Olympiacos and Xanthi as the game’s Most Valuable Player. Upon the receipt of his award, Olof Mellberg said the following:
About the team’s second goal which was granted to Djebbour: “It’s a good thing for him. I told him so in the locker rooms. I wasn’t sure if he or I was the one to score but on the pitch, I celebrated thinking it was his goal. He is the striker and he needs it. Let’s leave it at that.”
About losing the lead to Xanthi: “It’s never a good thing to concede a goal, especially when the adversary has only had one opportunity to score. Today’s game is a proof that you always have to fight until the last minute. That’s what we did. We missed many goalscoring opportunities but in the end got what we deserved.”
About this victory being a psychological boost, especially after the game against Marseille: “On Tuesday’s game against Marseille our performance was not that good. It was very important for us to play better and although we were not on top of our game today either, the two goals we scored and the three points we got is what counts.”
About not having the word defeat in his vocabulary, as in the end he was even playing like a striker: “Sometimes you win, others you lose. What matters is to do your best up to the very last minute so that you know that you have done all you can. If I don’t do that, it feels like I have left something behind, so that’s the only way to feel good.”
Pablo Orbaiz
After his debut with Olympiacos, Pablo Orbaiz commented the following: “We started off strong and created many opportunities but conceded a goal from a distant shot. After that, we tried very hard and at the end we managed to turn the game around thanks to our spirit and the help of our fans.”
“It is true that all teams are very well prepared and this was more than obvious today. However, we put our heart into the game and we will always do our best in all games in order to achieve our goal.”
“My teammates and I, all tried very hard. We have a very strong and collective team and we also have a wonderful crowd, so we can accomplish many things. On the pitch, we were the team to create the larger amount of occasions and we were the ones to pressure in order to score. We believed that the victory was close and I feel that it was a rightful result.”
