Lucescu: ‘What I said wasn’t shocking, but what the Marseille fans did’

In the press conference on the game on Thursday (April 14, 10:00 p.m., COSMOTE SPORT 2, LIVE by Sportish) against Marseille for the quarter-finals of the Conference League, PAOK coach Razvan Lucescu referred, among other things, to his subsequent statements that provoked the first game and reactions and stressing that he hadn’t said anything wrong about him, he spoke on the subject of Milik, on the full Toumba and on his team’s psychological preparation for this great game.

How did you psychologically prepare your players?

“It’s nothing special to prepare for, we all know that at this level everyone has enthusiasm and will. There’s not much to say, the only thing that came after the Marseille game is that we have to have confidence. ” “A good team, they do a good job, they have a lot of good players. We have to play like we did in the second half, that’s the right mentality.”

A question from tomorrow is if Milik is coming, is it still open, are you interested, does it matter or not?

“First of all, I hope we have your energy tomorrow. Regarding your question, I don’t think Marseille is a player, even if they have a high standard. They have their organisation, they have other quality players, so I do it. ” don’t think there will be a problem if “Milik is absent. This is football. The teams that have come so far have enough players available.”

What does this path leave PAOK, you, the players, regardless of whether the team qualifies?

“It’s very nice. There’s a big game now. It’s important to play with a lot of top teams in their countries. We experienced different styles of play, it was important to adapt, it’s different to play in the league than playing against Marseille.” “This experience is definitely important for us. On the other hand, it’s a nice experience that we’ve come this far. The next game is tomorrow. We’re very excited, we know how important the game is and we’ll do everything in give to a crowd.” Tomba.”.

The tournament has no VAR, the first game was judged by a mistake, maybe a second. What is your comment on this?

“Maybe a third, maybe a quarter. Because the first goal is offside. It’s harder for the referees because they’re used to VAR and they don’t have it now. It’s also hard for the teams that face situations like that .We have to react correctly in every situation and get the win”.

Last game you saw Toumba was at the 2019 championship celebrations, what would you like to say to the world?

“You know very well what to do. To be hot and push us to victory.

The atmosphere in the first game was quite intense and in the end what you said shocked the people of France. Do you have a comment?

“They tell me that what I said was shocking for the French, but it wasn’t shocking what the Marseille fans did for two days. Should I calm down, not Marseille that organizes everything? We are didn’t come for a party, but for something this.” is the first or second time PAOK has come this far to Europe and we wanted to please people. What I said was right for me. On the other hand, I said that coming to Greece is not good for your fans. “So that there are no problems. What you should say first is for the Marseille fans and attack so they don’t attack us.”

So that PAOK can achieve something tomorrow, is it a spiritual or a tactical problem?

“If I talk about it enough, it’s not good for us. We have to start by pressing forward so as not to give our opponents any space. In the first game we tried to play directly against Marseille. We made a few mistakes and “Marseille took advantage of that. In the second half we had more confidence, we played better and we did better.”

Contrary to the climate prevailing in France, as they thought they would have an easy task, Mr Sampaoli had said that the qualification would be judged in Greece, do you agree? And what’s the last thing you’re going to say to your players?

“They played better in the first game. They have good quality, let’s not forget that they are second to Paris in France. We have our mentality and we don’t think these games are judged in detail. We have to believe in ourselves .” .. even 1 “If we have we will go to the end to give our fight. You don’t have games like this every year, now we face our fans and we will go all the way”.

El Kaddouri’s overall presence and goal was a message that he’s ready here?

“Are you here? Yes, he’s here. He’s a man I love and he knows it. He’s got the respect, the mentality, the will to play. We’ve had great experiences together and now we’re going to have a great experience All the players have a great will “to win and enjoy other games. Because we have the championship and we also have to focus on the championship.”