Carrera proud of Spartak effort, Lucescu preparing for playoffs
PAOK calmly kept Spartak Moscow at bay in the Russian capital to progress to the UEFA Champions League playoffs, in turn leaving boss Razvan Lucescu a very happy man.
Watch LIVE from AGONAsport: Spartak Moscow - PAOK, UEFA Champions League Qualifier on Tuesday, August 14th. Details here.
Boasting a 3:2 advantage from a thrilling first leg in Thessaloniki, PAOK made a strong start, but Spartak almost scored when Jose Canas brushed a Fernando free kick against his own crossbar. However, Luiz Adriano then received a cheap red card in the first half, subsequently making PAOK’s life easier with the Dikefalos tou Vorra keeping Spartak at arm’s length throughout the entire match.
Following the final whistle, Spartak Moscow head coach Massimo Carrera expressed his pride in the Russians’ performance: “Instead of answering questions, I would like to say that I’m proud of my team and how we played,” stated a disappointed Carrera. “In these two matches against PAOK, we only had a poor 20 minute spell in Thessaloniki which resulted in this defeat. Today, I cannot blame my players at all, they did everything for the victory.
Luiz Adriano’s red card? I don’t know what happened, I didn’t see it. All of the players are very disappointed now, but this gives us extra motivation moving forward.”
On the other hand, visiting manager Razvan Lucescu was thrilled with the result and is already looking ahead to Benfica: “I think that it’s a hugely important qualification for us,” beamed the 49-year old Romanian. “Yesterday, I said that we had travelled here to win, and we had plenty of opportunities to score in this game. I would like to focus on the energy which we created, our tactics were right.
Now, it’s vital for us to recover this week and be fresh to play Benfica. Wherever we go, we want to win. I will embrace my wife, savour this triumph and then prepare to face the Portuguese opponents. There weren’t many PAOK fans at the Otkrytie Arena? Maybe it’s because it was a long trip from Greece.”
Returning PAOK captain Vieirinha revealed that he’s back in shape: “After sitting on the sidelines for two weeks, I feel fine again. In Moscow, we took a step forward to the Champions League group stages, and it’s our dream to compete in the prestigious tournament. We have two matches left to achieve our goal. It will be very difficult against Benfica, but we’ve shown that we’re a very strong team and we want to win.”
Young, up and coming Greek winger Dimitris Limnios congratulated the club with the victory: “I want to congratulate everyone, we left our soul on the pitch to qualify,” said Limnios. “Spartak didn’t threaten us. We have great joy inside us, but tomorrow, we’ll be thinking about the playoffs. There is no limit to what we can achieve.”
