Rubén Sayés spoke proudly after AEK’s 2-0 victory over Omonia in the seventh matchday of the Cyprus League by Stoiximan.
Speaking at the press conference, the Spanish coach he congratulated his entire team on their performance and the result, and while he emphasized that everyone played at their best, he made special mention of Peleari and Bajic.
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Live: AEK – Omonia
On the other hand, Henning Berg focused on his players’ struggles in the first half and their fatigue from consecutive matches in Cyprus and Europe.
Here’s what was said in detail:
Rubén Sayés (AEK): “I’m very proud of the team. After the first ten minutes, we raised the level of play. We struggled at the start, as expected, and then showed some good things on offense.
Everyone was outstanding—the whole team. Paleari helped out, but the entire team put in an amazing performance. Bajic up front gave it his all, and so did the players who came off the bench. And that’s what we need to do. Since we have a full roster, everyone needs to be able to step in and contribute.
The way we played—with three center backs—we adapted to Omonia, found the open spaces, and rose to the challenge. I can’t say our approach was any different. We tried to build our play from the back. Our performance was consistent, and that helped us.
We may have been the team with the most shots inside the box, and that’s because we built our play from the back.”
Henning Berg (Omonia): “We had excellent chances to score in the first half. We didn’t manage to do so, and as soon as we started the second half, we conceded a goal. We need to learn from this. When you don’t score on big chances from close range, you’ll be punished, and you have to fight back even when you’re down 2-0.
Overall, we created the most chances. We controlled the game in the first half, while AEK posed a threat mainly from set pieces. After the 1-0, we didn’t play as well as we should have, just as we didn’t after the 2-0.
However, we didn’t let up after the 2-0 lead. We’re not as fresh. AEK doesn’t have a game every few days. It’s not an excuse, but that’s the difference. If we had equalized on the play where Evandro hit the crossbar, perhaps the game would have been more balanced.”
