Alonso: “We respect Chelsea but we are not afraid of them, we have the potential to win” –

Panathinaikos coach D. Alonso expressed moderate optimism for tomorrow’s game against Chelsea at OAKA, for the 2nd matchday of the League Phase of the Conference League, stressing at the press conference that Panathinaikos’ goal will be to control the pace as much as possible and to fight with all his strength to get the victory.

What he said in detail at the press conference:

– In the last 4 home games in Greece and Europe, Panathinaikos has conceded only one goal. Is a good defensive function in them a constant for the match against Chelsea?

“I think defense is very important to play against Chelsea, in the Championship or in Europe. A good defense is the one that gives you the possibility to have a good attack”.

-Panathinaikos has played two matches in OAKA against Ajax and Lance. Now he has Chelsea in front of him. Are there any similarities in terms of the two aforementioned games to tomorrow?

“What tomorrow’s match has in common with the previous ones is the atmosphere. In football, however, these are different teams. In the game I think Chelsea are higher than Lance and Ajax. But this does not modify or change our thoughts on how we will face the fight. We know it’s a difficult match that lasts 90 minutes, but we also know that we have the potential to be able to create our own chances. We know we have to play a good game both defensively and offensively.”

– In most matches so far, Panathinaikos plays for victory, with initiative football. Does this apply to tomorrow’s match?

“We hope to be able to set our own terms. But we are realistic about who we will face. We prepare the team to be able to resist or stand in the different situations of a match. We had few opportunities in the European competitions to be able to do that. If we had the opportunity to do it more often, we would certainly have developed our counterattacks more. But tomorrow I believe that there will be phases where we will be asked to defend more, other phases where we will make more counterattacks and vice versa. But what we want is to have as much control as possible.”

-Regardless of how some may see the picture of the matches, the feeling is that Panathinaikos is improving in the last three matches. What more do you want to see in tomorrow’s match against a great opponent?

“The first thing I want to see is competitiveness and team spirit. From there on, whatever he wants to define.”

-Chelsea have conceded goals in 9 of their last 10 games. Will you take advantage of her defensive instability?

“Firstly about Chelsea, we have a lot of respect for them. We don’t fear her, we respect her. Even when we played with teams that were smaller in range, we respected them too. This is what I learned from a small child in my country, to respect every opponent. Because that means I have respect for football. Tomorrow we have the potential to win the match. I don’t know what percentage we have to win the match. But even with 1%, we’ll run after it. That’s the team spirit I was talking about. That’s exactly what I want. Always give our fight, whatever the percentages are. That’s how we did it with Ajax, with Lance and that’s how we’ll do it tomorrow. Sometimes you’ll win, sometimes you’ll lose, but the spirit has to be the same.”

– Do comments and complaints affect you and the footballers even after positive results?

“Throughout my career so far, whether in Paraguay, Uruguay, Spain, or the National Team, I knew, like my players, how to face the pressure and what some journalists might write. Trust in my players, trust in ourselves and we move forward.”

-Because we often forget that footballers and coaches are above all people and not robots, how did you experience the loss of George Baldock and how difficult was it to manage as a coach a human tragedy?

“What I can tell you is that we are in great pain and we are very sad. We have had this pain for 15 days now. The last two weeks have been very difficult for all of us. But I don’t think it’s ethical or right in this press conference to talk about the way we dealt with this great pain. There are two things we can do for George. To have respect, and this is the most important thing, and to dedicate the whole season to him.”

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