Olympiacos Piraeus

[Faliro]

Extremely hard question. I cannot speak for Olympiacos fans because they have many opinions and like to talk.... I think they respect Portuguese football, but not like crazy. Maybe before it was more.

Personally I fear Porto far more than Benfica but I understand your history and that you are going through a rough patch. I think Portuguese football is trying hard to stay established simply because many other countries that had weaker leagues have caught up recently.

Olympiacos is a team that built to attack and control the game. If an Olympiacos manager plays defensive football - not attacking.., the fans destroy him in the stadium until he leaves or is fired. This has happened to many managers..

I think the first leg, the rain helped Benfica but that is just my opinion. I think Olympiacos have a very fast and technical team and looked good until the rain. Benfica seems more a team of individuals and presently seem a bit disorientated. However this says nothing about the second leg. I think your players will try very hard and I think it will be a very hard and interesting game and I can't wait.

A lot depends on whether the referee lets the game flow.

[Churchill]

I had appreciated your sincerity.

Personally, I was not schocked with your opinion and I have to admit that is perfectly logic for you to think that way.

About the game here in Portugal, it's true that our team was very lucky with the weather but you should expect a better Benfica tomorrow night. Not exaclty a very good, but I would say, at least, a better team.

After last year season end, the club suffered a lot: the fans stop believing, the players stop believing in the manager and so on...

Just one more question, Portugal and Greece are both passing hard times due to adjustment programmes. Did you notice many side effects in your Club and in greek football?

[Faliro]

Greek football has been destroyed by the crisis. Examples of this are the following..

AEK - an extremely famous and successful club here in Greece that has always been in the top league since the creation of the league, got relegated this summer for the first time in their history due to bankruptcy and is now in the 3rd division!! They played today a league game and had 20,000 fans at the game even though they are in the third division. They have an old owner back now (hugely wealthy) who owned them in the good years and he plans to bring them back up to the first division with a new stadium in 2 years.

Larissa, another fairly big club - I suppose in Portugal it would be like Boavista(?) also voluntarily went to third division because they were bankrupt too this summer..

Panathinaikos didn't finish in the top 5 last year.. they are now playing in their old home stadium of Leoforos that can only seat 15,000 fans to save money... They look very weak too... They can still make an amazing atmosphere like they did yesterday against us, but their players are second division quality mostly... they gave us a very hard game simply because when they play us, they play for their lives.

Aris another famous team are bottom of the table and look like they wont survive this season.

The only teams that are strong are PAOK and Olympiakos at the moment - they are both owned by two very rich men. Most other teams are trying hard to do well in a very difficult environment. Olympiacos suffers because we have very little competition now, most our games end 5-0, 4-1 etc to us..


Having said this I am happy this happening, because all the teams are having to use logic now and develop players sensibly instead of fielding 8 South Americans every game.. When AEK return with a new stadium, they will be stronger than Panathinaikos and the league will be fun again. At the moment the only team challenging us is PAOK.

I think it will end well, but yes, the side effects from the crisis is quite clear in Greek football. Bizarrely Greek football has always had such potential and this potential was always ignored. Perhaps the crisis is a positive thing for Greek football as now, it is about determination to rebuild stronger than before.  Olympiacos is simply another level at the moment and finds the league to easy.

I think the infrastructure overall in Portugal is clearly superior to that of Greece as well as the stadiums. However I think Greece has the jokers in the pack with the professional fans (being a fan is literally their occupation) and also very intelligent scouting. i think you can see this by how much money Olympiacos spent on their players compared to Benfica.

http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/sl-benfica/startseite/verein_294.html

http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/olympiakos-piraeus/startseite/verein_683.html

[Churchill]

Obviously I didn't have the real notion of your situation.

I'm particularly surprised with Panathinaikos and their change of stadium.

Yes, here in Portugal, specially Benfica and Porto, continue to buy a lot, most of times over their cabality to pay and I think we'll pay that strategy somewhere in the future, similarly to what happened with our country.

This happens because here, in last couple of years, the competition is bipolarized between Benfica and Porto, making these two spend more (not better), but also obliges them to improve their performance. That's why here we'll see, in a good season, one of these two (or both) win easily more than 25 games in 30. There is a huge lack of competitivity.

[Faliro]

About the game here in Portugal, it's true that our team was very lucky with the weather but you should expect a better Benfica tomorrow night.

I fully expect a better Benfica in Piraeus. No question.

[sammer]

What do you think about Nico Gaitán?

[iKatz]

Welcome Faliro. I've been there in Athens some years ago. Good city, good beachs 

[Faliro]

I'm particularly surprised with Panathinaikos and their change of stadium.

Actually, the situation with Panathinaikos was so funny - not for them - obviously they were horrified.. but for everyone else, it has been very entertaining. A couple of seasons ago they got a rich backer called Pateras. He spent a lot of their money, they had Cisse and other players.., they finally won the league. Then he left due to fights in the boardroom and another idiot took over. The club sold all its players and became very weak. They were playing at the national stadium - OAKA last season (their dream of a new independent stadium at Votanikos died) where they have played for years - this is a very big stadium, over 70,000 seats. However they could not afford the electricity bill and the lights were shut off.. So they complained, but of course no one listened - you don't pay, no lights.. So they had to play their games at the stadium during the day!!! 

Then their new  'leader' (their club is owned by their fans like Barcelona) decided to take them back to their historical ground at leoforos.. he spent a tiny bit of money to make the stadium usable and that is their home now. They are a dying club.

Also it seems the picture of Portugal with two dominating teams is quite similar to Greece. That is why it is vital in my opinion AEK return, they have a huge following. I don't care so much about Panathinaikos - watching them suffer is very satisfying. They spend their existence complaining about referees and creating conspiracy theories about why they are shit.

[Faliro]

What do you think about Nico Gaitán?

I am afraid i was not concentrating on him during the game in Lisboa. I was simply amazed at the visuals of the rain, the drama etc.. I will be able to see him a lot clearer in Piraeus. I am aware of his reputation.

[Red.Fever]

our team is performing very poorly this year
and it's the same team that got to the Euro final last year, and was playing some good football...
same no, better, since we sold no one and got a few more quality players

but our president it's a noob about football
no one wanted this manager, everyone stoped believing in him, even the players

though our team seems to be starting to perform a bit better game by game
our perfomance against you guys here was really poor, but I expect this next match to be better
but my hopes are not high lol

[Person14slb]

What player do you fear most in Benfica? Bruno Cortez or Jardel?

[Faliro]

 

What player do you fear most in Benfica? Bruno Cortez or Jardel?

Neither at the moment.

[Ricardo Teixeira]

My fear in this game is...Benfica...

We have better players...but we are playing badly...since last year final...

[Rigters]

What player do you fear most in Benfica? Bruno Cortez or Jardel?

[Aka]

Personally I fear Porto far more than Benfica

Don't worry about Porto, the "little yellow female one" (xD) only lasts for 45 minutes.