Lucescu turns attentions to Super League, Baha satisfied
After losing to BATE Borisov 1:3 in Thessaloniki, Razvan Lucescu turned his attentions to domestic matters, while opposing coach Alyaksey Baha was happy to qualify for the Last 32 of the UEFA Europa League.
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Hosting BATE Borisov at the Toumba Stadium, PAOK had to win and hope that Vidi lose to Chelsea, but the Dikefalos tou Vorra gave a dismal performance. Goals from Maksim Skavysh and Nikolai Signevich (2) handed BATE a shock 3:0 lead in the first half, and despite a reply from Aleksandar Prijovic and a red card for Signevich, there was to be no dramatic comeback.
PAOK manager Razvan Lucescu admitted that he is mainly focused on the Super League: “Our focus is 101% on the domestic championship,” stated the Romanian manager. “Today, we failed to react after conceding goals, our psychology went completely as soon as something negative occurred. I am not trying to make excuses, but in my opinion, we lost hope of qualifying for the next round after losing twice to Vidi.
Due to the fact of playing AEK, Olympiacos, Panathinaikos and Atromitos in the Super League, our focus was on domestic matters. Of course, we wanted to qualify in the Europa League as well, but the two defeats against Vidi were crucial. The matter of qualification was decided in those two games. Our progress? Being 10 points ahead of Olympiacos shows how far we have come. After losing to Benfica in the UEFA Champions League, our attitude towards European matches changed. It was very hard to recover from that defeat.
On the weekend, we managed to score against Larissa, but we couldn’t take advantage of our opportunities with BATE Borisov. I am to blame for this defeat.”
Although BATE were 3:0 up by half time, Alyaksey Baha didn’t feel that it was an easy game for the reigning Belarusian champions: “No, this was not an easy match for us, the difference was our excellent defending,” said Baha. “Our long preparation in Greece certainly helped us. Did PAOK surprise us with their poor performance? It would be better to ask Razvan Lucescu about PAOK, I am here to speak on behalf of BATE. I was confident that we would qualify for the knockout stage.
I won’t sanction Nikolai Signevich for his red card, but hopefully this will be a lesson for him. He needed to keep control of his emotions better. He is a great player with plenty of talent.”
Attacking midfielder Dimitris Pelkas apologised to the fans for the poor showing with BATE at home: “I apologise to the supporters for what happened today. I know that this loss is difficult for everyone at PAOK, but this year, we are working towards winning the Super League. We haven’t won the domestic title for years. I ask for support and patience. We will all be successful together. We’re the Winter Champions in Greece? That means nothing, the main thing is that we will be in first place in May.”
Leo Matos shared his feelings on the thoroughly disappointing night for PAOK: “Everyone saw what happened in the first half. We didn’t show 100% of our capabilities, and I want to say sorry to the fans who paid good money to come and see us play today. We have to learn from our mistakes. For me, the losses against Vidi were key.”
