Martins respectful of Burnley, Dyche not moaning about Karaiskakis pitch
Before the first leg of the UEFA Europa League playoff round, Olympiacos boss Pedro Martins noted Burnley’s strength, while Sean Dyche revealed that his priority is still the English Premier League.
Watch LIVE from AGONAsport: Olympiacos - Burnley, UEFA Europa League Playoffs on Thursday, August 23rd. Details here.
In the third qualifying round of the Europa League, Olympiacos breezed past FC Luzern of Switzerland 7:1 on aggregate, but Burnley, who haven’t competed in a UEFA competition since 1961, edged past Istanbul Basaksehir 1:0 and previously defeated Aberdeen 4:2 in the second phase of qualification.
Olympiacos manager Pedro Martins is aware of Burnley’s potential and refused to mention the Thrylos’ miserable run against English opposition:
Potential problems against Burnley: “Our players are continuing to improve in terms of performance level and fitness. In this tie, we will face an English club which has been with the same manager for a long time and he took them back to the Premier League. We’ll have problems against a strong, experienced team, but our goals haven’t changed. We want to win and not concede any goals in the first match.”
Integration of new players into the team: “Olympiacos have a complete team with strong players, but not all of them had time to settle in during the pre-season. For example, Yassine Meriah didn’t have a chance to play in friendly matches, and Guilherme and Ahmed Hassan have only just signed. At the moment, some players are better prepared than others.”
Olympiacos’ poor record against English clubs: “I don’t want to speak about that. Burnley will be well prepared to play us, but we need to use home advantage and don’t forget that these Burnley players haven’t played in Europe before. Our stadium can help us defeat these difficult opponents.”
Ahead of the match, Burnley were forced to train at Panionios’ Nea Smyrni stadium because of the poor pitch quality at the Karaiskakis Stadium, but that didn’t bother Sean Dyche:
On the issue of training in Nea Smyrni instead of Piraeus: “We trained well in Nea Smyrni and the players managed to clear their minds for tomorrow’s match. Afterwards, we travelled here and looked at the state of the pitch at the Karaiskakis Stadium. Was this a problem? A lot of Premier League teams train on separate pitches, so it didn’t bother us.”
Balancing the Europa League and Premier League: “Our top priority is the Premier League. However, we respect both competitions and we want to play just like we did against Istanbul Basaksehir. It’s prestigious for us to play against teams of this level.”
Depth of the squad for competing on two fronts: “Every game is a challenge and the Europa League is a great tournament, we can all enjoy these matches as professionals. As I already said, the Premier League is the priority and we must not lose that focus.”
Factor of the Greek weather and condition of Karaiskakis Stadium pitch: “The sun is good for my skin! I don’t think Olympiacos are happy that their pitch is poor, but the turf was excellent in Nea Smyrni and we have the mentality to cope with this situation. In order to win, you have to show fight.”
