Olympiacos’ coach, José Luis Mendilibar, spoke together with the Greek champions’ midfielder Santiago Hezze at the press conference ahead of Tuesday’s match (09/12, 17:30) for MD6 of the League Phase of the UEFA Champions League.
José Luis Mendilibar’s Press Conference in Detail:
What is Podence’s condition, whom we haven’t seen for a while, and how important is it for Olympiacos to win this match?
Podence has been training with the team for a week now. He had some issues with his physical condition; we hope he’s fine, and we’ll see in the final training session and decide. Olympiacos is obliged to win in every competition; there is no particularity in this match. As Hezze said, we prepare like we do for every match — to stay focused, play well, and take the win. We don’t feel any special pressure or stress about this game, because we want to win every match.
In every final-like match you’ve played with Olympiacos, you’ve done very well. Have you thought about the characteristics your team needs to show in this match?
No, I don’t want to do that or transmit such ideas to the team or myself because it won’t benefit anyone. Maybe the results so far haven’t been ideal, but we know what this competition is and we continue calmly, trying to play as well as possible. We consider it just another match and we don’t want to put extra pressure on any of our players because that won’t help anyone.
What is your view of Kairat Almaty?
We didn’t have much time for the analysis we would have liked; we played just the day before yesterday. The match will be special for both teams because we are both playing on artificial turf, and it’s not their usual home ground, which may affect both sides. So, there is no home ground to benefit either team. They use long balls, they want to press high, play balls behind the defense, and they play fast football trying to dominate the game. But I believe the pitch will affect both teams.
Regarding the lineup against OFI, with Mouzakitis and Hezze in good condition — does that satisfy you? And despite the long trip, you will have more than 600 Olympiacos fans with you.
We understand it’s a long trip and not easy for anyone to get here, so we thank the fans who come to support us and we hope to repay them by taking the three points. There’s no need to mention names — we are first in the standings and that shows the team is doing well. It makes no sense if two players are doing well but the rest aren’t, or if the strikers score but the defenders aren’t performing. We don’t doubt the performance of the two players you mentioned — they help us a lot — but we want the whole team functioning properly, regardless of who plays. We need both defense and attack to work as a whole unit.
The level of the UEFA Champions League is different, but against OFI Olympiacos may have produced its best performance. As last year, Olympiacos seems to improve from December onward — is it the same now?
We cannot rely on a single good performance to conclude the team is in good form. It was indeed a good match, but we need a series of games to say we are doing well. Overall, I believe the team has played good matches; we don’t have many bad ones. In the UEFA Champions League matches, I believe we were good and dynamic. We’ll give our best now as well, though Kairat Almaty will do the same. We hope for an open, interesting match, and we’ll try to be the team that dominates and plays well to get the win.
You said you didn’t have enough time to analyze the opponent. Are there any Kairat Almaty players you must watch out for?
When you don’t have much time to analyze the opponent, you mainly focus on individual players. As you said, their number nine is very good, as are two midfield players. We know they try to pass the ball behind our defense. The number nine is dangerous, but he is suspended. These are the key details we need to share with our players.
You spoke of an open match — what must you watch out for to win?
The space behind our defense. We all know we play high up the pitch, and all opponents try to get the ball behind our defensive line. So, the defenders must be ready to run everywhere on the pitch and prevent the opponents from threatening us.
Hezze: “We must see the match as an opportunity to show our value”
Olympiacos needs goals to win and continue in the competition. As a midfielder, when you see El Kaabi in such great form, what do you think about your teammate?
It’s true he has helped us a lot, but he is not the only one scoring — our other forwards are also scoring and helping. The whole team will be focused on getting the win. Ayoub has helped us tremendously so far, but whoever plays will give their best. We are all here to help one another; even those who aren’t attacking players will try to help us score.
You played last year against Bodo/Glimt. Do you think the artificial turf and indoor stadium will affect the team?
Conditions may be special, but they are the same for both teams — the turf, the indoor stadium, the weather. It will be eleven versus eleven. Inside the indoor stadium, the weather is fine, so it won’t affect us. We must focus more on the match itself and carrying out the coaches’ instructions, playing a good game to win, and not thinking of excuses.
What must Olympiacos do better than in previous matches to get its first win in the competition?
It’s an important match for the competition, as are all matches we’ve played so far in the UEFA Champions League. We must see the match as an opportunity to do what we did in previous matches where we may have deserved to win but didn’t. That’s what we must do — see the match as an opportunity to show our value. That’s all we should think about in such an important game and competition.
Does it motivate you that you deserved to win previous matches but didn’t?
We know it’s an important match and we want to win it. We prepare as we do for every match, because we must aim to win all matches. If we think about the pressure or the necessity of the match, it might create anxiety. We want to do our job well and get the win without thinking anything special about this game.
