Here is what Olympiacos coach, José Luis Mendilibar, said after Olympiacos’ qualification to the UEFA Europa Conference League final against Aston Villa:
We saw you taking a stroll on the field before the match; does this mean you are now accustomed to being cheered by the crowd?
I have this habit, I always had it, of taking a stroll on the field. When I first came here, we played without a crowd, and I didn’t expect what would happen, then the crowd started to come, and I saw what was happening. I thank the fans for their love, their support, and the recognition; I’m not used to it yet, many times I feel awkward, and that’s why I don’t complete my stroll on the field.
Have you realized that you have linked your name to Olympiacos’ greatest success in Europe?
The truth is I’m happy because we will play in a European final, and this is the first time Olympiacos will do it. I hope we win to bring joy to the fans and to further enhance Olympiacos’ history. In my career, I have worked with several teams and I have also enjoyed it when a team of mine did not get relegated. But when you reach a European final, you make a lot of people happy, and I still haven’t gotten used to that.
You mentioned that Unai Emery is a coach who leaves no detail to chance, but it seemed like you were the one who actually did that…
I wouldn’t say I’m so much into details, it might have seemed like we had everything under control, but it wasn’t like that. I always have an idea of how we will play, depending on the opponent we have. Sometimes it works out, and sometimes it doesn’t. I don’t focus so much on the details; I like to play attack-minded football and make my team go forward. That’s my philosophy: to press and attack.
You took over at a time when nobody expected anything from Olympiacos, and now you are in a European final. At a personal level, few coaches go to two consecutive European finals; what does this mean to you?
When I came to Olympiacos, I saw that there were good and quality players. Since we had good players first and foremost, I told them that they must believe in themselves because they are good players, and that’s why they are in Olympiacos. In training, I wanted specific things, and they started to happen gradually, and the idea of the game we had in mind began to emerge. The whole team knows what they can achieve, and what has changed is that everyone believes in themselves. The truth is that European finals have been slow to come in my career. Now I think I am being rewarded, and I am enjoying it at this age. I hope I am not one of the few coaches who go to a final twice, but who wins them.
What is the situation with Quini, Richards, and Ortega, ahead of the matches against PAOK, AEK, and Panathinaikos?
None of Richards or Ortega will be ready for Sunday. Quini doesn’t have any problem, but he will certainly be quite tired, and may need to be replaced. We saw that Apostolopoulos entered the field well and was not discouraged by the atmosphere and the importance of the match and responded, so he will be one of our options.
Is it your philosophy to bring more young players into the first team, as we saw now with Apostolopoulos?
When I came to Olympiacos, we had 28 players in our roster, 25 players and 3 goalkeepers. It was difficult to give opportunities to everyone, but we have given opportunities, and they are all necessary. Today, we had two kids from the youth team; when someone needs to come in and play, we won’t look at his age; we will have him capped so as to help us.
Mr. Vangelis Marinakis said in a statement that there are four more matches for the end of the season, i.e. the final and the championship fixtures. What is your opinion?
We want to win all our games; we always and everywhere go for the win. We wanted the same against Aris in Thessaloniki, but we didn’t manage it and got the draw. That’s our intention, but we don’t know if we do it in all the matches we play. With all due respect to PAOK, we want to win also on Sunday, because if we do, we will enter strongly into the championship race, and we hope this qualification gives us the boost for the win we want on Sunday.
How easy or difficult is it to “reenergize” your players after such a tough game, to take on PAOK on Sunday?
It doesn’t take much effort to motivate the players for such matches; they are already filled with enthusiasm and motivation. Maybe you need to insist on them to be calm and believe in themselves and not change anything from what we did in the matches against Aston Villa. Today’s game started with pressure from our opponent, but we were not that threatened. We scored in the 10th minute, and so our opponent took a blow psychologically, and as time went by, the opponent saw that things were difficult for them, and that was the key. That made us believe more in ourselves and psychologically brought down the opponent, and I think that was the key to the game.
