Olympiacos won the “double” in Crete with a score of 0–2 against OFI, and Diego Martínez did not hide his satisfaction for the win in the away match of the championship.
In detail, the press conference of the coach of the “red-and-whites.”
Before the game you spoke respectfully about OFI – the victory came more easily than most expected. Is this due to your team’s mental readiness?
First of all, I would like to congratulate my team and the players, because we beat a difficult opponent; a team that has forced other big teams to lose points here on their pitch. We knew from the beginning that the game would be challenging, because we also came from a rather tiring match against West Ham, when our footballers had spent a lot of their strength and we had to prepare for this game mentally, as well as physically for a demanding match. We managed to win with two goals, giving a good performance and dominating throughout most of the game. The only thing I can count against us is that we should have scored another goal, especially in the first half. But we beat a team that one of the best in the championship in terms of tactics, and this is satisfying.
Did Mady Camara leave due to injury, and if so, is there any information about his condition in view of the game against PAOK?
We don’t have any information about Mady yet, but we’ll find out soon. It’s not just Mady though. There are other players from the match who are fatigued. There are others who stayed in Athens either due to fatigue or injury. We cannot know from now what will happen next week. The most important thing is that we have gained footballers, and there are players who show their development and those who have not played enough until now but have proven that they can help the team. That’s how our big roster helps. There will be many matches in the season, everyone will be indispensable –I have said that before– and everyone will be necessary later. It was difficult to play on this pitch with this opponent and we had to prepare properly. We were able to respond using various players and making substitutions, which we will do a lot this year. Other times, different footballers will play, but they all are necessary. The team is what’s important – I know that you often ask about specific players, but football is a team sport, and if the team is doing well then the name does not matter. The most important thing is that, once again, we won the match without conceding a goal and changing the team. Our week is ending well and our football score is good, and we met the requirements against a good opponent.
OFI did not manage to make a final effort in your home. Is this the way you want to see your team’s defence?
It’s important for us that we didn’t concede goals and it’s important that we kept our focus. In these games, if you concede a goal at any point in the game it may hinder the progress of the match and this is why we are satisfied that we maintained the zero. Such games require good elements on both sides of the pitch. Once more, we managed to overcome the difficulties of the match, and by making various substitutions to the faces as well as the system, we demonstrated that it is important that the team is able to combine various compositions.
