Olympiacos may have been disqualified from the next round of Champions League, but there are incentives. Are they strong enough, so that your players can stay completely focused on the game?
Playing in this match is an incentive in itself. Besides that, there are also clear objectives as far as the match is concerned. Should we win, we will one of the top-seed teams at the Europa League draw. And, finally, if we want to show our good side and give joy to our fans, this is a strong incentive for us too.
Olympiacos defeated Arsenal by 3-1 last year. Do you feel any pressure caused by this result the team achieved at this time last year?
Personally, I wouldn’t like to compare last year’s team with this year’s squad, because there are lots of different players. Having said that, we would very much like to repeat last year’s achievement because we’ve already qualified to the next stage of Europa League.
Cholevas won’t play tomorrow. Would you like to tell us a bit more about your plans? Torosidis will be the left-back and Maniatis or Diakité the right-back?
All those things you mentioned are possible solutions. The important thing is that we have all the players at our disposal and we will try to find the suitable solutions, so that we can play like we should tomorrow. We’ll see what the final choice will be.
Are you worried by the fact that Olympiacos have been missing a lot of scoring opportunities lately? Is this due to bad luck, or is it something else?
Efficiency does not always depend on the number of opportunities created. I would be worried if the squad did not create opportunities at all. I am confident that one day, efficiency will come. For us, the important thing is to create opportunities, just like in the previous matches.
If you could turn back time, which of the five previous matches would you like Olympiacos to repeat, so that the team could keep their hopes to qualify to the next Champions League round alive?
Without any doubt, the first encounter was very important for us to keep on course in Champions League. We are a fresh team, with lots of new players; we’re trying to build the team from the beginning. Undoubtedly, Schalke played better than us in that match.
This team of Olympiacos you’re trying to build, how far can they go in Europa League? What’s the point you’ve set the bar at?
Europa League is a tournament which consists of lots of strong teams. We will try to make the first two steps, meaning the “32” and the “16” stage. We want to be competitive and get as far as possible; figure amongst the teams that will advance a lot and be a runner in the competition.
When you played in London, there were surprising changes in the line-up. Will we see something similar tomorrow?
We’ve said many times that Olympiacos are not just eleven players. In all Champions League, Superleague and National Cup matches, we’ve proven that we have many solutions. That makes us a big team. A team like ours, which takes part in three competitions and always gets out on the pitch to win, cannot possibly use the same players in three matches for 90 minutes.
If you had to choose one thing, what would it be? A victory against Arsenal or Panathinaikos?
Those two matches have nothing in common. If we were to choose, we would prefer to win on Sunday. However, our wish is to be victorious in both matches.
GIANNIS MANIATIS
There’s a difficult match ahead, which is probably indifferent points-wise, since our side have already qualified to Europa League. We want to win in order to be one of the top-seed teams, on one hand, and give joy to the fans who will come to the stadium to support us, on the other hand. We want to win and bring joy to our supporters, and also show that we are able to participate in Europa League as strong a team as possible and keep on a decent course.
The fact that there is no incentive for qualification to the next Champions League round is not at all important?
It is a Champions League match and we will be up against a big team like Arsenal. They’re not in the best possible shape, but they’re always a big team. We all live for these matches; we hope it will be a nice match that we will enjoy. It it’s like last year, it will be nice for all of us. Both us and our fans.
Last year, Olympiacos managed to collect nine points and got disqualified from the next round. You could possibly collect the same amount of points this year too. What does it feel like for a player to be left out of the next Champions League round, having collected nine points, when other teams from other groups qualify for much less?
It wasn’t the most pleasant thing for us. Especially last year’s disqualification was very hurtful. This year, if we collect nine points as well and get disqualified again, we’ll feel bad. We are in a difficult group. All teams have been competitive. We were left out because, once more, we paid the price for the first lost match. If we hadn’t lost to Schalke, things might have been different.
To what extent have Olympiacos changed compared to the opening match?
I think we have improved in many sectors. In the last two matches against Platanias and Panachaiki, we created a lot of opportunities. We’re not as efficient as in previous matches. We work hard every day in order to bring out the best of us. We create opportunities, though we weren’t able to score as many goals as we wanted in the last two matches. This week, I hope we score as many goals as possible and get the desired results.
Despite all those changes in your roster, the team managed to remain competitive in Europe. There must be a certain amount of discontent, since you could advance a bit more in Champions League.
Every player feels a certain discontent when they do not get through to the next round. With nine points, we could have qualified. Europa League is an important competition, that creates a strong incentive. Last year, we showed that we were competitive; we can make it this year too. We have to prove it out there on the pitch. We can advance as much as possible in Europa League. We have a good team with good players, and Olympiacos can make it.
Is third place what Olympiacos deserved? Also, do you have the derby against Panathinaikos on your mind just yet?
I personally believe that we deserved third place. We achieved two very important victories in Montpellier and G. Karaiskakis. We beat the champions of France. Had we been luckier, we could have qualified. As far as the second part of your question is concerned, we stay focused on tomorrow’s match. It goes with saying that the derby is at the back of our mind. We must consider each match separately. For the time being, we focus on tomorrow’s match and hope to get three points. After that, we will have five days to think about Sunday’s match.
