Pedro Martins:
Whether Olympiacos will once again surprise positively his fans tomorrow: “Good afternoon. I won’t hide that our team is continuously improving both in its performance level and physically. Tomorrow we’ll face an English team. It’s a strong opponent that has the same coach for many years now, and that finished its league on a high spot. This means we’ll face some obstacles tomorrow. It’s an experienced team that knows how to handle difficult situations. Our objective is to win the match. Our second objective is to do so without conceding goals, thus having an advantage for the second leg”.
Whether the team’s recent transfers will be in the starting line-up tomorrow: “Our team is in its full strength and has players that can contribute. They all know the team’s goal, but not every one of them is with us enough time so as to be able to understand how the matches are together with the team. Meriah has been training with us for 15 days now, however he didn’t have the chance to play any official matches or even friendly ones. Hasan is a player that arrived recently, the same goes for Guilherme. They are players that need time to adapt. There are players better prepared physically. Nonetheless, we are prepared to face a difficult match. We’re counting on everybody’s contribution. We’ll answer your question tomorrow”.
On Olympiacos’ tradition against English teams: “Burnley is very well prepared physically and is a strong team inside the pitch. Inside Karaiskakis Stadium we must make the most of the transition situations and the set pieces. We’ll have to elevate the level of our game. However, Burnley is unexperienced in terms of European competitions and we’ll also have to make the most of one of our weapons that is our stadium. We’ll have to make the most of the set pieces if Burnley loses his concentration. Historically, this stadium gives us strength and on many occasions we have achieved good results in big matches. We’ll have to be concentrated and to overcome this difficult obstacle so as to qualify for the group stage”.
Lazaros Christodoulopoulos:
Which elements must Olympiacos have against Burnley in order to achieve a good result: “I think that, while analysing our opponent, we’ve seen that we must be patient in our offensive game. They have physically strong players. They cover well the spaces in their defence and when we’re in possession, we must be patient and find the right moment and space to make our attacking moves”.
His message to the fans: “It’s a thing we’ve been talking about every day in Rentis: the enthusiasm the fans have been showing. Even though we don’t read about it somewhere, we ask the people in charge to inform us about how things are going with the ticket’s sale, because we know how much of Olympiacos’ strength is in his fans. For sure, this has been playing its part. We know that, inside here, a spark is needed in order to start the fire. My message to the fans is that I want to invite them to the match, and I know they’ll be here. So, I want to tell them this: Feel as one with the team, put on the red-and-white shirts and let’s be as one tomorrow”.
Whether the feeling he has about tomorrow’s match tells him he’s going to score again: “In the past, I didn’t like to say things before the matches. I like to keep a low profile. When things go well for me, I become introspective in order for things to go even better. This past week I’m feeling good and I think I’ll score another one!”
