Olympiacos coach, José Luis Mendilibar, spoke at the press conference following the match against Asteras Aktor and referred to the scorer of the game, Yusuf Yazıcı.
Below follow words of the Legend’s experienced coach:
How does a coach feel when the substitutions he makes completely change the image of a match? I see it differently — I feel that I should have started him in the lineup from the very beginning.
And how do you feel that the player who changed the match is Yazıcı, who last year in Tripoli got injured?
It’s true, nine months ago he was injured at Asteras Tripolis’ stadium in his very first appearance, and he was sidelined for nine months. Now he showed what kind of player he really is, because he’s a footballer who can open up the game against such an opponent.
Olympiacos had a shot that hit the post and created chances, but could not score a goal.
Did last year’s match come to your mind, and do you have a different approach in mind for similar games?
It’s never easy when you play against teams like this with a solid and compact defense — it’s not easy to break them down. They play with eleven men behind the ball and defend well. This time the solution came with Yazıcı’s goal, and that’s why we’re smiling now, but it could have easily ended 0-0 and we would be showing a very different face. We must always find a way to win this kind of matches.
