On Thursday evening (August 27, 8:00 p.m.), PAOK faces Brann in Norway in the rematch of the 1-1 draw at Toumba, with the “Double-Headed Eagle of the North” aiming for a positive result and the much-coveted spot in the Conference League’s League Phase.

Speaking at the press conference ahead of tomorrow’s match, Alessio Lissi emphasized that he and his players are ready—both mentally and physically—to rise to the challenge and achieve their goal, setting their sights on advancing.

Here’s what he said in detail:

On the trip and Bergen: “It’s absolutely beautiful. I love Norway and the countries of Europe. It’s all fantastic.”

On the match… the final—and whether there is pressure and anxiety: “We’re ready to handle this pressure. That’s how soccer is; we’re PAOK, and we have to manage it.”

On how mentally strong his team is: “They’re definitely very mentally strong. Tomorrow, there will be some tough moments because we’re facing a very good team, but just like in the first match, we’re capable of handling it again. We’re ready for tomorrow.”

On the situation with Pelkas: “I have the pleasure of managing a united team with strong values. These are the keys to our team. It’s a great pleasure for me to work with players like Pelkas.”

On the core lineup for the first few matches and the difference compared to the Levadiakos game: “I understand what you’re getting at, but I always trust all the players, especially now at the beginning. Against Levadiakos, we made a significant rotation; it was the right opportunity. Some players, after the Bran match, couldn’t play against Levadiakos due to fatigue. Those who played did so because they deserved to play. I never put a player on the field by chance. The players who played confirmed to me that I had them in mind. Every player who played in the last two matches is an option for me for tomorrow’s game.”

On Bran’s physical advantage: “It definitely showed in the second half of the first game. We have to manage that—tomorrow is the final. We’re coming to play with all our hearts.”

On Ognen Ugrecic’s qualities: “If he comes—and I say this because it’s not official yet—we’ll be talking about a great signing. We’re definitely pointing in a direction we want to move toward, a way we want to shape the team. However, right now we’re focused on tomorrow’s game—a final—and we want to advance and compete in the European group stage.”

Speaking on behalf of the players, Zafeiris said: “This is a final for us, an important game that we have to win. We need to show that we’re a team, stay united, and fight together to advance. We have to stay focused and give it our all throughout the entire game.

In the first game, we started strong. What we need to change is how long we’ll have the upper hand in the match. We came here to succeed. We’ll need to stick together and fight through both the good and the bad moments of the game.

Brann has a good following here in Norway; they like to control the game and won’t settle for a 1-1 draw. We mustn’t let them dictate the pace of the game. In the first game and in the first half, they were a bit lucky, but we weren’t able to score. As I said, we came here to fight together, stay positive, and win the game.”

On the Greek and Norwegian leagues: “Both have definitely improved a lot. It’s something we’re seeing with the Norwegian teams as well. In Greece, we’re improving and getting better, and we’re getting positive results. The Norwegian league is definitely more physical, but both are getting better.”

On how much the victory over Levadiakos helped PAOK: “The win against Levadiakos was very important for our confidence and energy. Now we’re focused; that result helped us, and we’ll strive for the best result here.

As a player, I want to help my team. Now that we’re at the start of the season, it’s nice to play games and get into a rhythm. Then we’ll follow the coach’s plan and try to be as ready as possible for the matches.

*photo source: KYPE