Below in detail, the press conference of the Basque coach:
What positive aspects do you take from the victory? And how do you feel when the fans chant your name?
I’m most pleased with the younger players’ performance. As for the chants, when I hear my name being sung, I feel shy. I think to myself, “What have I done to deserve this? Who am I for people to chant my name?”
What did you ask from the young players, and what did they deliver?
I ask the same from them as I do from everyone else – to play their game. There’s no different treatment because of their age; they’re part of the first team. When they’re not playing with us, they’re competing with the youth team to get match time. We have the same expectations from them as from any other player. I don’t treat them any better or worse because they’re young. I just ask them to do their job, and when they do, they make the team better.
What was different about Olympiacos in this match compared to previous ones, allowing you to win?
We shouldn’t be fooled by the result. The 2-0 scoreline doesn’t mean we performed well. If we compare this match to the one against Panetolikos, we did better against Panetolikos. The result is deceiving – we lost possession too often, and we need to be more consistent in defense and stronger in attack. So, we can’t let this result mislead us.
We also saw Costinha make his debut. Did he bring something extra to the team, in terms of strength and speed?
He’s a player who trains exceptionally well. He never stops working and is always eager to help. He has a great attitude and never complains about anything. He’s here to work. He helped us a lot, supporting Rodinei, and the two of them did good work on the right side. He’s shown us that we can always rely on him.
Was this match also an opportunity to rest some key players while the team still performed well?
That’s the hope. That’s why we prepare, to see if we can rely on certain players when our main starters are unavailable. We’re pleased that the squad is structured to provide solutions when problems arise. We hope this continues because, over the course of the season with many games ahead, we’ll need to depend on all our players to help the team.
