Olympiacos travelled to Serbia ahead of their Thursday match (04/10/23, 19:45) with Bačka Topola for MD2 of the UEFA Europa League. The coach of Olympiacos Diego Martinez and player Sotiris Alexandropoulos attended the pre-match press conference.
In detail, below follow words by the coach of Olympiacos Diego Martinez:
Will you change your plans given that Freire is not fit to play?
Freire is not available due to some discomfort he felt, so he is not 100% fit. This doesn’t change our plans, however. We are to give our best and win while maintaining out style on the pitch. As said, it doesn’t matter who plays as long as the team keeps on playing following the same idea; also, let me say that all players in the squad deserve to be capped and perform great whenever asked to.
Topola’s coach said that Olympiacos are the tie’s favorite and he said they will play a close and strong defensive game; how do you expect them to play?
In modern football, there are no favorites in the sense that all encounters are both demanding and balanced in such competitions. Topola are a team on the rise and have a clear plan in their game. I like them as a team and they performed well against. We know for sure we are to play a demanding and tough match. We came here to present our best version and we have to reach top performance, because Topola are quite motivated for this match.
Do you think you owe something to yourselves given your display and the result in MD1?
This sense of duty is always here because when one plays for Olympiacos, then one always has to win. We do not feel as if we owe something, just a duty to win. This means however that we have to give our best and stay humble. In this competition, there is minor room for errors, but in football one always has to give their best. We want to win and perform our best and deliver. We have great zest and ambitions, and an equally big respect and humbleness. Our greatest obligation, however, has been the trip from the airport to the stadium.
The coach of Topola had been a teammate of Jovetic. Have you spoken with your player on that?
Yes, we have, we know they used to be teammates and friends. Thus, we know it will be a demanding and tough match. I said before that I like the way Topola play and this match calls for our utmost attention and it will be very demanding.
Alexandropoulos: “We feel no stress or pressure; we feel confident”
Is it an additional source pressure that you are playing away from home and that, despite your good performance against Freiburg, you lost and things may turn ugly in the group early enough?
We feel no stress or pressure; we feel confident because we know our team and we know how well we may play. We are prepared to perform in a tough stadium against a strong team. We have to take care of ourselves and the match itself, and do what we have to do to earn those 3 points.
Do you think you owe something to yourselves given your display and the result in MD1?
One may perform great but, in top competitions, what matters is the 3 points to earn. We have seen it also in the past when one poor performance of ours in Genk has brought us here. Just like my coach said, we play well so far in important fixtures, but we have to win the 3 points we lost in MD1.
How differently do you feel now since the Genk tie? In terms of your progress and familiarization with the team.
The goal scored in Genk has been important, just like the qualification was. Then, I was no more than 2 weeks with the team, and I can say I feel great. Since day one, I understood that my coach wants to have me improved and that gave me extra confidence to give it all in practice and fixtures. What I am looking forward to is what will follow and I wish we all stay healthy so we enjoy this beautiful journey.
