Olympiacos head coach José Luis Mendilibar spoke after his side’s 2-0 defeat to Arsenal in London, expressing satisfaction with his team’s performance despite the result and looking ahead with confidence.
Below follow details of the press conference of Olympiacos’ experienced coach.
Congratulations on the performance — are you satisfied with the impression your team made, or were you hoping for something more?
We played against a big team, and we knew it would be difficult. We wanted to show courage and play as well as possible. I think we achieved that. Until the final whistle we kept trying, and of course we wanted more from this game. In the end, we lost the match, the opponent was better, but I’m pleased with the effort we gave.
If Podence had scored and Olympiacos had made better use of their opportunities, would we have seen a different match?
Both teams had opportunities, though they had more. Maybe if Podence’s shot had gone in, things would have been different. He struck it very well, but their goalkeeper made a fine save. Overall, we did a good job, and the fact that Arsenal were under pressure in the closing stages shows we played well.”
What feeling does this game leave you with, and can you tell us about your meeting with Arteta, whom you coached when he was very young?
Regarding the match, we did our job well and we knew we would be facing a strong team. We take satisfaction from the fact that they didn’t have an easy time either, and we came close to equalizing, especially in the final minutes. We played against one of the best teams in England and in Europe, and we made them feel uncomfortable in their own stadium — that gives us satisfaction. I coached Arteta when he was 14, and I hadn’t seen him for many years. It was a nice reunion, and there is a good relationship between us.
Arteta said that Olympiacos made Arsenal nervous — do you see that as a badge of honor going forward?
Yes, although perhaps it doesn’t sound very good to hear that, because it can give the impression that you didn’t come to win the match but only to make things difficult for the opponent. However, the fact that we pressed them and tried to equalize is something we liked and are satisfied with. But the most important lesson we take from this game is that we go into the next matches with great confidence, because we showed that we can perform well, and we are sure that in the upcoming games we will play even better, since we are pleased with the way we competed and presented ourselves in this match.
Why did Olympiacos improve their performance after conceding the first goal and after Podence’s chance?
It was mainly due to the fact that the opponent was strong. They started the game very well, and no matter how much we wanted to, we were under a lot of pressure in the opening minutes. Perhaps Podence’s chance surprised them and caused their level to drop a little, while we raised ours. It’s not that we didn’t want to play well from the start, but the opponent pressed us hard and played well in the early stages.
