Martins thrilled with Olympiacos effort against Luzern
Olympiacos breezed past FC Luzern with a 3:1 victory in the second leg of the UEFA Europa League third qualifying round, leaving manager Pedro Martins pleased with the level of performance.
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Despite boasting a healthy 4:0 lead from the first leg, a full strength Olympiacos side didn’t take their foot off the gas in Switzerland, opening the scoring within 23 minutes as Lazaros Christodoulopoulos headed beyond the goalkeeper. Early in the second half, the in-form winger then doubled the Thrylos’ tally, smashing in a rebound. Miguel Angel Guerrero tapped in from close range and Shkelqim Demhasaj netted a late Luzern consolation, but Olympiacos comfortably won 3:1 to complete an emphatic 7:1 aggregate triumph and set up a Europa League playoff clash with Burnley.
Head coach Pedro Martins shared his thoughts on the victory, praising the players’ effort:
Mentality of the players: “I am very pleased with how we played and the victory. Today, we all saw the team’s will to win even though we had a large advantage from the first match in Piraeus. If you play for Olympiacos, you have to play to win. It’s important to gain the victory because we’ve gained points for Greece in the UEFA rankings.”
Additions of Bibars Natcho and Guilherme to the squad for the Europa League playoffs: “At this moment in time, Bibars Natcho is not ready physically. In the next round, we will face a higher level opponent and we count on all of our players. We have ambitions to qualify for the group stages.”
Further signings after Guilherme and Ahmed Hassan: “I do not want to comment on players which haven’t yet been signed by Olympiacos.”
