Giorgos Tzavellas spoke about everything and everyone. Here is what he said about the match against Panionios, the team’s need for calmness and how PAOK experience these past few weeks:

« It was a positive result, but we could have scored at least one more goal after we took the lead and make things easier for us. Panionios’s goal was beautiful. It would have been hard not to concede. It’s a good result, we look ahead now. There is a match against Atromitos for the league now. The Greek Cup can wait, there’s time until the second leg. When a player gets injured, another has to step in. All teams suffer injuries. I believe that those who stepped in today helped the team. We played well today. We could have done better, but we played in less than three days after the AEK match. We are happy and we keep some good things. It’s important to deprive our rivals from creating opportunities to score. Last season, our opponents had 8-10 chances to score per game. We managed to cut down that statistic. Sometimes we concede due to individual errors and lack of focus. We need to cut down on that as well. Our team must remain calm, because we expect Panionios to be better in the second leg. If we qualify to the semi-finals and the final, we will face strong opponents. We need to work. It’s a long season and both the Greek Cup and the play-offs require full concentration. We need to handle back-to-back games. It’s not easy. We have several young players on the team. They have achieved more than we expected them to. We need to help them, as they help the team. We all must make an effort not to repeat mistakes we made in previous encounters. When a team has consecutive mediocre results, the atmosphere can’t be good, they can’t be happy. There is even more pressure because of the results and we must withstand it. Big clubs are like this. If one can’t handle the pressure, they can’t play at a big club. Right now Berbatov is missing from the team. He could have been with us, help us«.

PAOK scorer in Nea Smyrni, Dimitris Pelkas , spoke about the team’s overall performance and his goal:

«On that moment my first thought was shooting the ball, as it landed perfectly at my feet. We wanted to win, but couldn’t make it. We scored and now we are eagerly awaiting for the second leg that will decide everything. Panionios played more defensively in the second half. We ran out of steam and were content to hold on to the draw. My goal against Brøndby IF was better«.

As for Ricardo Costa, who returned to the starting line-up after many weeks on the sidelines, he spoke about the result’s importance ahead of the second leg:

«We played two matches and in both we were after a good result. In such games we must not concede such goals. Our opponents scored a fine header. We now have 90 more minutes ahead of us to clinch qualification. Our starting line-up is constantly changing. It’s a very tough season for us. We started from the UEFA Europa League qualifiers, new players came and we had to change line-ups. That’s life in big clubs. It’s a good result ahead of the second leg, because now even a 0-0 will get us through. PAOK need to win their games with high morale and proper mentality«.