Quotes by Martins, in detail:
“This is a brand new challenge for us and this is how we approach it. We have a good, vigorous and devoted team. We have a good fighting spirit with skillful players. We believe in the team, last year’s spell restored Olympiacos’ image in Europe and we ante to repeat that. Omonoia is a serious club, worthy of respect, but we want to move forward.
Figures do matter but will be of no use tomorrow. We are to face a team that disqualified the Polish and Serbian champions; they deserve our respect. We are prepared, we know what we are capable of and we stand focused on doing our job.
A tough year for us, one too long season. The year should have ended with the (Cup) final, so we played no friendly matches. Omonoia are better prepared and they have found rhythm; Things for us are a bit stranger. We faced obstacles. However, we have faith and we have worked hard to prepare ourselves for this match.
Sa is available to play. I have made up my mind; you will find out tomorrow who plays. Truth is that Tzolakis gives me a hard time to decide given his recent performance.
We scouted Omonoia’s players and mentality in our recent friendly. I believe things will be much different tomorrow. Omonoia will not be the same with respect to their display in that friendly match.
All countries with clubs in European tournaments want to collect points to help their national rating. So do we; we have been helping (Greece) for many years. We are keen to collect more points for Greece.
Mentally speaking, we are fine. There are some issues in terms of fitness and rhythm, but we will solve them. Fortounis and Masouras entered the pitch and changed our side’s display against Asteras. We also saw newcomers Rafinia and Cholebas being ready to help already. Match after match, the team will become even better”.
Quotes by Fortounis, in detail:
“There are no favorites; we have to be very serious about it. We are ready and experienced. The most important thing is not to concede goals and then to score and get the advantage.
I missed a European fixture and scoring in such a match. I wish we can move forward, qualify and have more of these matches to play.
All I want is to stay healthy, since I had a hard time last season. I feel great, I want to help attain our goal, to be part and a protagonist regardless if I am a starter or a sub.
We display really well in European fixtures; especially, in recent years, we have shown our character. We always try to rule the pitch against any opponent, which is very hard in the Champions League. We can do it. We have the quality for that, as the coach said. We have to play our game regardless of the rival team.
Empty stands have an impact on us. Our fans help us a lot at home. However, this is no excuse, we have to play and secure a good result for qualifying.
We did not have a break actually, and this both good and bad. We prepared for these two matches and we know what to expect following our analysis of the opponent. In Tripolis, we showed we were in good shape and ready for these fixtures”.
