On the first victory in England after 13 matches: “I of course cannot hide the fact that I am very very happy. We knew that when playing on English soil, our side only had defeats to show and we also know that it would be hard but also important to manage to achieve something like this. We were prepared to play to win and we believed that we had to play really hard in order to get something out of this match. We are very happy because this is a very important victory for the players, the Club and our fans. We are very satisfied because we added a great victory to the Club’s history. We have realised how important our achievement is.”
On what was the key to victory: “We knew that we had to respond to the pressing. We knew that Arsenal would make us “suffer”. However, we had worked on how to deal with the pressing and how to defend properly. Our defence was good, we were concentrated. We were not afraid. We respected Arsenal, however we were not afraid of them. The fact that we scored our goals on these specific minutes in the game was also very important. But we were prepared about what we were going to face. We knew what we needed to do in order to win this match and we did it. I am very satisfied with my players.”
On his players and their prospects: “We do not set any limits. We are here to improve. We knew that these are young players. They are really focused on the goal they have set. We are aware of the fact that there is a difference in the budget between us and Bayern and Arsenal, however we do not set any limits to our ambition. My players believed in themselves and in winning.”
On whether this is the greatest win in his career: “This is a historic and important win. I do not think about my career and what this win means. This is one of the most important wins I have achieved. But this victory is just three points, it does not mean anything more than that. I have won games in my career that gave me titles, this victory does not give me a title. It’s one of the most important victories.”
On qualifying to the next round: “Qualification is open. We took a big step, however it’s just three points and nothing more. We still have another four matches to play. Nonetheless, it’s not a victory we cannot discard since it paves the way to the coming matches.”
On whether Olympiacos can become better: “There is much room for improvement and we try to achieve this. We prepared a plan that did not fit Olympiacos’ playing style perfectly. We had to adapt and play more defensively. Something which is not in our mentality as we do not play so in Greek championship matches. Our goal is to play more offensively in European competitions too.”
