Olympiacos head coach José Luis Mendilibar commented on his team’s emphatic 6–0 victory in the first leg of the Greek Cup semifinals, and shared his thoughts on the upcoming match against AEK in the Stoiximan Super League.
In detail, what the experienced coach had to say during the press conference at “G. Karaiskakis” Stadium:
We saw you giving instructions until the 90th minute, despite the score being 6–0.
We are a team that cannot afford to become complacent. Even if you’re winning 3–0 or by any other margin, you can’t allow yourself to play a different kind of football – I simply can’t accept that. That’s why we must always push for the best we can achieve during a match, nothing less.
Will this result have any impact on Sunday’s game?
As I said before the match, these are two different games, played very close together. For Sunday’s match, we will have one extra day of preparation compared to now. The team must always be in its best possible shape, regardless of who is in the starting lineup, and we will give our all for Sunday’s game. We can’t know for sure whether it will go our way or not – what is certain is that there will be changes in the lineup.
Did you expect such a strong performance from your team, given the number of new faces in the starting lineup? Also, a comment on Bruno and Palma, who seem to have settled in quickly.
We train together and our work in training is reflected in our performances. The results you see are not incidental; we prepare daily to produce this result on the pitch. Bruno had a tough time securing a starting spot, and today he performed well – even after picking up an early yellow card. He took his chance and showed he deserves to be part of this team. Palma is a more technical player, though he isn’t someone who can maintain the same intensity for 90 minutes. However, in this match, he provided an assist, scored a goal, and showed that he has a lot to offer on the pitch. I didn’t want a team with 14 good players – I wanted a squad of 22 quality players.
Are the high-scoring matches against AEK due to their playing style being a good matchup for Olympiacos?
It’s true that we struggle more against teams that sit deep. We create chances, but when opponents defend compactly, it’s harder to score the first goal. On the other hand, when our opponents play more openly, it allows us to play our football more effectively. That doesn’t mean this will always be the case – we must focus on playing our own game as well as possible. We still have several matches against AEK before the end of the season. AEK had their chances and could have scored, especially in the first half. In every match, when both teams play openly, the game is evenly balanced. We don’t focus on the opponent; we want to play our football at the highest possible level.
