David Fuster
“This is one of the most important games of my career. Scoring in so much cold is indeed a very unique experience.It is hard to breathe and you get tired much earlier than you do under normal conditions. It is also going to be very difficult now to concentrate on the upcoming game against Panionios but it’s what we must do as winning the championship is our main priority.”
Tasos Papazoglou
“It’s been so cold here these days that I have to say I can’t wait to go back to Greece… In the beginning things were a bit difficult but after a while our body warmed up with all the running. I did a warm-up but as Olof could not continue I had to come on immediately. I haven’t played with Marcano on the midfield since the friendlies. I like these games, the coach gave me a chance and I would like to thank him. I also hope I helped the team out with this victory. There is one more game against Kazan but I think that playing at home we have nothing to fear. We have proven that before, in the Champions League.”
Roy Caroll
“I knew he would try to outsmart me at the left corner. Furthermore, that’s what the instructions of my coach were. I took my chances and dived quickly. I was lucky.”
Vassilis Torossidis
“I believe it was a fair victory. Especially in the first hald, we missed out on many goalscoring opportunities. In my opinion, we deserved to have scored at least once or twice in the first half.
In the second half, we came in just as strong and Rubin’s only good shot up to that point was deflected by Balazs. From that point forward, we had total control of the game. The only thing that could have ruined this evening for us was that penalty which, thank God, was saved by Roy.
Under these difficult conditions, our performace was very mature and we managed to keep calm. This is the first time that all of our players, or at least most of them, have ever played under such difficult circumstances. We managed to meet the expectations and can now move on.
This was just the first half against Rubin. We have 90 more minutes to go and in between we also have to play against Panionios in the Greek League; this is a match we must win. Generally speaking, only when serious can you beat teams as Kazan; or else they can turn things around in a split second.”
Ivan Marcano
“This was a great victory. We are happy and satisfied by the result as these conditions make it extremely difficult to play. We must be very careful in the return leg because a 1-0 lead is no guarantee and does not secure our qualification.”
