Olympiacos coach José Luis Mendilibar at the post-match press conference following his team’s victory over Panathinaikos at OAKA, where he was asked about the upcoming Greek Cup final against OFI, which will take place at the same venue.
Below is the full press conference of the experienced coach:
Does Olympiacos win out of habit, or is it the character of the team?
It’s true that we weren’t good in the first half and the opponent was better than us, but we managed to keep the game at 0–0, waiting to improve in the second half and go for the win. What we do is fight. A team that fights is hard to beat, so what we know how to do is compete and endure during the difficult stretches of a match when we’re not playing well, and take advantage of the opportunities that come our way. That’s what helps us win games – we keep fighting, even in tough moments.
In six days, Olympiacos plays a final at the same stadium. What different things should we expect from the team?
The idea is always the same – to be competitive and to be better than the opponent. But there are times when the opponent is better and beats you. Just like in this match, in the first half, the opponent was better, and that’s why we had to keep trying and hold on until we improved. Even though the final will be played at the same stadium, it will be a completely different match. We must wait for that moment to see what state each team will be in. Our goal is to stick to our idea – if the opponent is better, we must hold on until we improve our performance; if not, then we need to be the better team in order to win.
This was Olympiacos’ 16th match against Panathinaikos, PAOK, and AEK, with just two losses. Is that the key to winning the title – that the champions proved to be better than the rest?
During the regular season, things were more balanced and the teams were closer in the standings. What happened is that in the last two months, Olympiacos won all its matches and pulled away from the rest. That’s not something you usually see. Normally, teams share results and the differences are smaller. But what I’ll say about our team is that when we need to be competitive, we manage to do that and win the big matches that help us reach our goal. That’s what Olympiacos achieved. It’s not common, but the team won nearly every game in the playoffs, and that’s what created a big gap compared to the other teams.
