PAOK coach Razvan Lucescu gave a press conference ahead of tomorrow’s game against Bania Luka.
The Romanian coach spoke about his team’s big goal of reaching the end of the road and playing in the Champions League for the first time.
What he said in detail:
On whether he was able to get his players to hit the ground running and forget about last year’s championship win:
“The preparation in Holland was, in many ways, a very good experience. We learned how to deal with situations. The following week the players showed the intensity and aggressiveness that we want them to show on the pitch.
On whether the transfers concern the team:
“Honestly we don’t deal with transfers, I don’t know if there is anything with any player, the players understand that everything the club does is for their benefit. They realise that they need to work for their own personal opportunities.”
On whether he will build on last season’s core and the first official game of the new year:
“The mentality of those who are not involved with the team gives the impression that just by being there you can achieve something, just by hearing a name you can get a result. We are facing a team that has won a championship and has something of a team. Being there alone will not guarantee us any result, any qualification. You need to be hungry, have the right mentality, the desire, to go out on the field and fight for victory, staying focused on your objective.”
On whether getting into the Champions League groups is also a big goal for him:
“Yes, I can say that reaching the Champions League groups is the big goal for everyone in the team. I would be a hypocrite if I said otherwise, for me too it is a dream, but first we have to secure our European presence in the European groups, excluding Boracay, and then look at the next step. There are teams that have won titles and built their culture, but others haven’t, they stayed there, look at what happened with Napoli last year, they couldn’t manage last year’s success. We have to take it step by step and not think about what will come next.”
On whether the world’s thirst for the Champions League group stage is putting pressure on:
“We have to stay focused in these two games that we have ahead of us. Qualification will not be decided tomorrow, it will be decided in two games and that is where we must be focused. The opponent has shown that they can take advantage of situations, everything they can create during the match. The world has every right to dream, to imagine, but we must remain focused on our objective.”
On whether there is less pressure compared to last summer, where the team had to do three qualifying rounds without the right to elimination, who has it this time:
“We should look at things positively. Let’s protect Europe and then we can say more.”
On whether there are players who have fallen behind in terms of work and whether he has already decided on the starting lineup:
“Managing the players was our greatest weapon last season. That is our mindset for this year as well. There are players who have missed a long period of preparation, what rewarded us last year was hard work and not luck. In any case, there is a dynamic that has been created around the team, not only with the starting players, but also with those who come off the bench for 20 or 30 minutes.”