Olympiacos coach José Luis Mendilibar, speaking in the press conference after the match against PSV at “G. Karaiskakis”, stressed that his team was better but did not get the result it wanted.
Below is the full press conference of the experienced coach:
After such a performance against PSV — in which you kept them quiet offensively — what remains: the missed chances to score a second goal, or the lapse in defense that led to the equalizer?
Before the match we spoke here in the press conference about how we would stop them, but I also told you that they would find it hard to stop us. We created many chances, but we were not able to score a second goal. PSV managed to equalize us in one moment. We were better, but the scoreboard did not show it.
There will be other matches in which Olympiacos might take the lead — against Real Madrid, Ajax, Bayer Leverkusen — what will the team need in order to keep its advantage and win?
You’re looking far ahead; we only look at Sunday’s match. When we play against the teams you mentioned, we will see how we handle it. We have to take each match separately, and let’s not forget we are playing in the top competition. It’s not easy, we are not the favorites. We try to be good in every match and to win them. There are teams better than us; what we are trying to do is prepare and try to win.
You are a coach who never gives up. Given the current standings, do you believe Olympiacos can make the breakthrough and qualify?
You are all thinking far ahead — where we can reach and how many points we’ll collect. We are playing in a tough competition; our next match is against Real Madrid, who are the favorite. They are better than us in everything — in budget, in strength. We cannot think about how many points we will get and what we will do. We can only think about our next match and try to win it, and at the end we will see what we have achieved.
