Martins: “We weren’t at the same level as in the first match”

Pedro Martins admitted that Olympiacos didn’t play at the same level as in the first match against Bayern Munich, while Hans-Dieter Flick was happy with the performance.

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Olympiacos were 21 minutes away from earning a precious point at the Allianz Arena. However, Robert Lewandowski finally broke Olympiacos’ stubborn resistance to give Bayern the lead, before substitute Ivan Perisic sealed the 2-0 win with one minute remaining. Olympiacos remain bottom of Group B with only one point from four games.

“We did not play at the same level as in the first match in Piraeus,” remarked Martins when speaking to the media. “This is also down to the fact that Bayern were playing at home and they had their new coach. We lost the ball regularly, and Bayern were a lot faster than us. We lacked speed.”

“Jose Sa was our best player on the pitch,” continued the Portuguese manager when asked about his goalkeeper. “There is nothing more to say about him. We’re fortunate that Sa was so good today, but we expected our outfield players to play better. We wanted a better performance.”

Bayern interim manager Hans-Dieter Flick, who replaced Niko Kovac at the helm after a heavy Bundesliga loss to Eintracht Frankfurt, was satisfied with the performance: “I am happy with our performance today, this wasn’t an easy situation for us. I’m also really pleased that we have qualified for the Round of 16. Tonight, we put everything we trained into action. Of course, it goes without saying that we’re happy with the clean sheet, this was very important for us.”

“We played against a great team,” revealed Olympiacos centre-back Ruben Semedo. “We could have done more, though, and we will prove this in the next game. Lewandowski? All of Bayern’s players can make the difference, not only him. Our situation is very difficult now, but I hope that we can earn points in the match against Tottenham.”

Olympiacos midfielder Andreas Bouchalakis admitted that the visitors did not react to the conceded goals: “We didn’t manage to react to the goals which we conceded, and we did not take advantage of our opportunities in this game. Bayern is a very tough opponent. We must look back at what we have done today and continue.”

“We started the game with intentions of achieving something better, but the opponents’ quality didn’t allow us to do this,” stated Jose Sa. “We made a great effort, but we failed. It was a very difficult match against a really strong team. Did Bayern’s players say anything to me when the game ended? No. Personally, I still think that it’s possible to qualify; we will fight to make this happen.”

by Shaun Nicolaides

Image Source: to10.gr

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