Olympiacos coach José Luis Mendilibar, after the 2–1 win against Aris, spoke at the press conference and stressed that it was a difficult victory for his team:
Below follows the full press conference of the experienced coach of the “Red-and-Whites”:
“We started the match well and we were dominant, but we didn’t threaten as much as we would have liked. In the second half we were very good, we scored two quick goals, but after the penalty and the red card, things got complicated. Aris had two good chances to equalise, but we managed to hold on and secure a win that definitely wasn’t easy”.
Based on Taremi’s performance and his scoring frequency, when you play with one striker, could he be the starter? How difficult is the El Kaabi–Taremi dilemma?
When I am forced to choose one of the two forwards, you will find out.
We see that you have opened up the rotation; is this something that helps the team meet its obligations?
We have many matches and we play every three days, the schedule we have is demanding. It would be impossible to use the same players, so yes, we rotate and with this we achieve two things. We have a fresher team and, in addition, all the players get minutes so they are always ready to help the team.
Did that penalty call and the red card affect you, because before a European match and with the score at 2–0, we had to finish the match with intensity and lots of running.
No, because we won. If we had not won and they had equalized, then it would have affected us. But now that we have won, the only thing that remains is that we found it difficult to get the victory; but from the moment we won, we forget everything.
You chose to use Podence from the first moment; how important is he for Olympiacos?
That is why we brought him, we knew him, we were familiar with him and we had those expectations. He meets those expectations and we are satisfied.
