Olympiakos coach Panagiotis Lemonis has warned his players not to get carried away with their remarkable 6-2 triumph over 2001 UEFA Champions League finalists Bayer 04 Leverkusen.
“It was definitely a good start for us in Europe this season,’ said LemonisWe knew that this match was crucial and I know that our fans must be very excited. But it is important that we stay focused and keep our feet on the ground.”
“The 6-2 scoreline does not reflect the potential of the two teams,’ he added. ‘We knew Leverkusen would be very tired and that they would try to hit us on the counterattack, so we made sure to guard against this.”
“The crucial point was the save Eleftheropoulos made from Bastrk when the score was 1-0,” confirmed Lemonis.
“From that point on, we woke up and managed to stay focussed,2 he said.ÿ”Wecannot be overexcited after this win, nor should we be overly disappointed after any future loss.”
Leverkusen coach Klaus Toppmoller was understandably disappointed with his side’s of his performance. “We should have drawn,” he said.
“We started well and took the lead, but after Basturk’s miss and then the equaliser, we collapsed. I don’t know why but we lost our strength and our fighting spirt.”
“Giannakopoulos and Djordjevic were too strong for us tonight, and caused us many problems. I hope we can lift ourmorale before our next Bundesliga game, and I also hope our injured players return soon. For our recent games, we have been unable to pick our first-choice defence. I also know that our players who played in the FIFA World Cup are not in the best physical shape right now.”
“It is too soon to say who might qualify from this group,” he added.
