Martins presser in detail:
What were your original thoughts when drawn against Porto, since you have foreseen this. Also, given that you know Porto very well, what qualities should Olympiacos showcase to leave Dragão with a positive result?
“Firstly, I want to clarify something. I learned that my reply was mistakenly displayed by the Portuguese Press. Allegedly, I said that Olympiacos will qualify in the next stage. I didn’t say that. There are three strong teams, Olympiacos, Porto and Marseille. They are all worthy of qualifying. The Press failed to recognize Olympiacos’ worthiness; and I don’t mean Greek Media that do recognize it. This is my first clarification. As per tomorrow’s fixture, it will tough, balanced and tight, as it was against Marseille. We are confident, but I think we are to play against a well-oriented and quality team; the match will be really difficult”.
Since you know both Porto and Conceição, how do you expect them to play?
“They will be offensive-minded, they have team that may develop in various formations. We can deal with that, either featuring a defensive line of three, or in a 4-4-2 formation. Our players are able to adapt to circumstances. There will be moments in which Porto will outperform us and vice versa. It will be a balanced encounter and we have to make up our mind about how to face this challenge”.
Tomorrow, you will feature in a stidium with lots of fans attending. Is this going to help Porto?
“That’s not how I see it; it’s quite positive that there will be people on the stands. We need fans. Football needs passion and this will help both sides. We have played away matches in packed stadium and managed to deliver. We are experiences and the atmosphere cannot have an impact on us”.
How do you consider the Hellenic Federation’s decision to postpone your match against PAOK?
“This has nothing to do with the Federation taking a decision, but with the fact that PAOK played an away match in Europe on Thursday, and we have a Tuesday fixture, so the match could not be player neither on Saturday, nor on Sunday. So, it was due to UEFA regulations, not the Hellenic Federation’s. As per the build-up for tomorrow’s fixture, it was indeed helpful that we had no match to play in the weekend. Olympiacos had no possibility for pre-season training. Many of our players were absent in previous days, so, in this sense, it helped”.
Bruma came along; is he fit to play? And why did Ba and Soudani stay in Athens?
“Bruma is here and he may help us. The reason why both Ba and Soudani stayed in Athens is the coronavirus. They have been found positive 2 days ago, so they were left back”.
Sa presser in detail:
What were your original thoughts when drawn against Porto and since you know Porto very well, what qualities should Olympiacos showcase to leave Dragão with a positive result?
“After drawn with them, I was really happy to return to Porto. Olympiacos have to do what we have been doing so far, to continue fighting in each match.”
Do you believe thay both teams are on the same level?
I believe that both Olypiacos and Porto are on the same level and can win the match”.
Is Marega Porto’s most threatening player?
“I don’t think that focusing on a single player is meaningful. They are all very good, we have to pay attention to all of them and treat them all in the same way”.
Since you know Conceição’s outfit, what are the players you should be most careful of?
“I am not going to disclose how we will play and our tactics. We are here to do the best we can”.
