Our side departed for its… Legendary tour on Monday July 21! The Olympiacos squad that will participate in one of the most renowned football tournaments, the International Champions Cup, departed this morning from the “Eleftherios Venizelos” airport and is ready to gain significant football experiences.
Both the players and the coaching staff were in high spirits at the airport and are looking forward to the important matches ahead of them! Besides, as Mr Michel admitted, the matches against adversaries such as Liverpool, Milan and Manchester City are the ideal way to continue the preparation of the team. “This is the goal, to continue working, to continue playing matches against important clubs and to learn,” initially stated our coach and continued by referring to the new, important additions to the roster he awaits:
“We expect some transfers to be concluded within the next few days and are certain that we will soon have some new players with us in the States.”
As regards the case of Kostas Fortounis and the reinforcement of the Greek part of the roster, he remarked that: “I like good players. We have been watching Fortounis for some time now, the negotiations took some time, but he is undergoing the medical tests today and we hope all will go well and that he will be able to help the club this season.”
He finally repeated how important is for the Legend to be participating in such an important tournament, against great clubs, in view of the new season: “We have last year’s experience, when we had a strong preparation against clubs such Liverpool, Valencia and other strong sides. We did not manage to have good results, but we learnt a lot. We all agree that we use the preparation to learn and it does not matter whether we achieve positive results, what matters is what we do during the season.”
To watch Michel’s statement click HERE.
Balázs Megyeri is also looking forward to the tournament: “This is a great opportunity for our side to prepare for the Greek championship and the Champions League in such an important tournament. We will face really great clubs and I believe this is a really great opportunity for us.”
As regards the first completed stage of the preparation, he went on to say that: “We always strive to improve. These have been two hard weeks. Our main concern was the physical condition and we now have to play matches, to get to know each other better, since there have been new additions to the squad, and I am looking forward to this.”
On whether these key matches are the best “rehearsal” in view of the Champions League, he pointed out: “It is good to be playing against top-level sides and under these conditions, in good stadia and I believe this is the best way to prepare for the Champions League.”
To watch Megyeri’s statement click HERE.
Alejandro Domínguez also talked about whether the tournament will help the team to ideally prepare for the Champions League: “We continue to think that this is another part of our preparation for the Champions League and the Greek championship. We obviously want to defend our side’s reputation and show that our club is worthy of respect and create a positive image with our participation. It is also an opportunity for us to see what we can do.”
On whether the team will be improved this season following the new additions, “Chori” pointed out: “It is reasonable for a team that has many changes, to need some extra time to adjust. We have to get to know each other, this is why it is therefore really good that we are having these two trips now, the one we did to Austria and the one to the United States now. The time spent will help us bond more as a team. As I use to say, the combination of experience and youth is always good.”
Finally, as regards the really beautiful goal he scored in Austria, he said while smiling: “It was a stroke of the moment, this was a beautiful moment for me. I scored this goal during training, but I wish I will be able to score many more goals this year compared to last season. I always work because I always want to be as improved as possible.”
To watch Chori’s statement click HERE.
The Legendary Tour will begin in Canada and more specifically in Toronto where our team will play against the Italian club AC Milan on Thursday July 24 at 20:00 (July 25 at 03:00 Greece time).
The next stop for our Olympiacos will be the match against Liverpool in the Soldier Field on Sunday July 27 at 17:00 (July 28 at 01:00 Greece time). However, we wish to remind that a day prior to our side’s match against the Premier League runners-up, Olympiacos will hold a charity event in the National Hellenic Museum aiming at spreading the message of its partnership with UNICEF regarding the vaccination of children in Greece and the rest of the world! All proceeds from the event will go to aid the cause of the partnership between Olympiacos and UNICEF to vaccinate children who need our help. You may read information regarding the tickets for the event HERE.
Finally, on August 2 at 14:00 (22:00 Greece time), our side will play its last match in Minneapolis against the English Premier League champions Manchester City in TCF Bank Stadium.
To buy tickets for the matches of our Olympiacos for the International Champions Cup click HERE.
