After advancing with a 4-2 victory over Sint-Truiden, Omonia coach Henning Berg spoke at a press conference.
The Norwegian coach highlighted both the team’s collective performance and the individual performances of his players, and expressed his satisfaction that his team had advanced to the group stage of the Europa League.
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At the same time, he sent a message ahead of the league season, hoping the “clover” would get off to a strong start. Regarding Giannis Kousoulos and his future, he replied that everything is still up in the air.
Here are his comments in detail
Initial comment after advancing: “It was a very good performance, both as a team and individually from many players, showing a lot of quality. We had to fight hard to get here, and the Europa League is definitely better than the Conference League, even though our dream was the Champions League. We didn’t make it, but we’re very happy. Now we’re focusing on the league; we have our first match coming up and we need to be ready.”
Another qualification against a Belgian team—does that show European consistency? “Omonia has made it to the group stage six or seven times; that shows consistency. Let’s not forget we also had that painful elimination by Anderlecht. In the matches against Sint-Truiden, we showed more consistency in ball possession compared to the past. That shows progress. I’m very happy with the quality the players brought to the game. El Toro scored a hat trick, and he’s a very good player—a smart one. He’s not quite ready yet, and what he did tonight was amazing. Let’s not forget that if Nicolás hadn’t gone for it, the match would have gone into overtime—maybe even to a penalty shootout. All goals are important.”
On the fact that they’ll have matches in both Cyprus and Europe: “We’re very happy to be in the Europa League, where there are higher-quality teams; it will be a good test for our players and a major challenge. Of course, we want to win the league as well; last year we managed to balance European and domestic competition very successfully. We’ll see what we can do this year, but winning the league is very, very important to us. At the same time, we want to put on a good showing in the Europa League.”
Kousoulos was in tears at the end—is he leaving the team? “I think he was just very happy about qualifying. The transfer window is open, and we’ll see what happens. Certainly, if he leaves, someone else will have to come in. If a replacement is found, he might leave. Kousoulos has been here for many years, ever since I first arrived, and he’s helped a lot on the field, but he’s also a very strong presence in the locker room. We’ll see what he wants to do, and if we can keep him on the team—it’s still up in the air.”
