Ahead of tomorrow’s (September 16 – 7:45 p.m.) Europa League Group Stage opener against Celta, Henning Berg made his customary remarks at the press conference.
The Norwegian coach of Omonia discussed the match, emphasizing that his team has a great opportunity to test its strength against a high-quality and experienced opponent.
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He also discussed the team’s performance on the field and the need for greater efficiency in finishing.
Speaking on behalf of the players, Lois Dionis emphasized their readiness for the match and also discussed his motivation for joining the “Clover.”
Key points from the remarks
Henning Berg
Opening remarks: “We’re looking forward to the match. It’s a huge tournament. Our goal was definitely the Champions League. We may not have made it, but we’re in an equally big tournament. It’s a good opportunity for us to continue working to improve and to face a team that’s playing at a very high level—a team that reached the quarterfinals of the Europa League last year. They have quality and experience. They didn’t start the league the way they would have liked. It will be an experience for us tomorrow to play in a packed stadium. We’ll do our best.”
On whether he thinks Omonia is inconsistent: “I don’t agree that we lack consistency. On the contrary, we’re improving from game to game. We’re creating chances; we just needed time at the start. We scored four goals against Aris; we could have done better against Omonia Aradippou. Against Apollon, we created many chances and opportunities. These results show consistency and improvement; we definitely want to improve even more in the attacking third and convert our chances into goals.”
On how he’ll approach the match against Celta: “They’re a team that has made quite a few personnel changes so far. They have the same coach as last year and had excellent results last season. Last year they were the best team on the road; they even beat Real Madrid. I think they have a few injured players, but they definitely like to press high up the field, and we’ll do our best to find a way to neutralize their strengths.”
Loïc Diony
His comments:“We’re ready for these matches against top-tier opponents. We know that Celta is a great team, even though they haven’t had the best results, but we’ll play our game and we want to be as competitive as possible.”
On whether the prospect of European competition was a draw when he joined Omonia: “European competition wasn’t the only reason I came here. Our goal was definitely the Champions League. We didn’t make it, but we qualified for the second-best competition. The reason I came is the broader context of the team. They were champions last year, and we’ll strive for that goal again this year. Our overall goal was to play in the group stage. The coach gave me the reasons why I accepted the offer and joined the team. In Europe, we’re playing as underdogs, but we want to be competitive. We’ll take it one game at a time and see what our goal will be as we go along. No soccer player plays just for fun. All players want to do their best.”
On Celta: “Today we’ll analyze Celta. We’ll have a clearer picture today. If we do what the coach considers important—show energy and passion, and play with heart—we’ll put on a good game. May the best team win.”
