Oenning: “The referee lost control of the match”
Following the home defeat to AEK in the Super League, Aris boss Michael Oenning criticised the referee, while Massimo Carrera wanted to create more chances.
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AEK are continuing their impressive improvement under the leadership of Carrera. In the early stages of the first half, Christos Almpanis connected with an intelligent pass from Nenad Krsticic to open the scoring at the Kleanthis Vikelidis Stadium, a goal which proved to be the winner. Searching for an equaliser, Aris did create a handful of chances, however Vasilis Barkas refused to be beaten. AEK are now 14 points clear of Aris in third spot.
“I am disappointed that we failed to apply pressure on AEK for the full 90 minutes,” revealed Oenning. “We’re very upset with decisions made by the referee, they were very strange. To be honest, it doesn’t matter if the referee is Greek or foreign, he simply has to be capable of doing his job properly. The referee today completely lost control of the match, he doesn’t have the necessary quality to take charge of games. There are big problems here.”
Carrera, for his part, noted the mistakes made by AEK: “We knew that it would be a tough game, we were playing against a strong team at their home ground. However, we made a lot of mistakes when in possession of the ball, and we could have created more opportunities to score goals. We didn’t start Petros Mantalos and Sergio Araujo because we have another match in a few days. The referee? I don’t like to speak about referees. Overall, I think that we were solid today, but some aspects require improvement.”
Aris forward Fjorin Durmishaj, thought that fatigue played a big factor: “We played midweek in the Greek Cup, unlike AEK. Their early goal ruined our game plan. Nevertheless, we managed to respond well, although we lacked accuracy in front of goal. I don’t want to make excuses, but we had less energy than AEK because we played recently. We gave 100%.”
“It was key that we managed to score an early goal,” revealed AEK forward Christos Almpanis, who grabbed the winner. “Nenad Krsticic gave me a wonderful pass for my goal, I noticed that I had space and I managed to score. It’s a great feeling. The main thing is that we are sticking to our goal of achieving as many points as possible before the playoffs begin.”
Brazilian midfielder, Lucas Sasha, also pointed out the tough schedule for Aris: “If I am not mistaken, we have played 12 games since January 4, I cannot understand the logic behind creating such a demanding schedule. Given that AEK didn’t play midweek, they were fresher than us. The small details make the difference. Moving forward, we have to be ready for the playoffs, because we will continue competing in a lot of games.”
Stratos Svarnas of AEK was happy with the defensive showing: “In terms of our defensive play, we were just as good as when playing against Panathinaikos. On the other hand, we struggled in attack, it’s an aspect when needs to improve. For a defender, the most important thing is to not concede any goals.”
