On the events of the match against Aris and his public apology:

«It’s something that belongs in the past. It’s something which also happens in regular families. I apologized, it was something I felt and I wanted to do. We have a long way to go. What I felt was that I wanted to apologize to our supporters. This was not the kind of image of the team that we want to project. We have a difficult set of games and we all have to be ready. It’s a difficult uphill struggle from here. The Play Offs are starting now and we all have to be united to achieve our goals.»

On his exclusion from the squad for the game with Panathinaikos and if he is now ready to return to the team:

«We thought that this was the best scenario to ease the situation. For the rest of the players to go to Athens, as psychologically ready as possible to play that game. The team must be calm, we must all calm down as a squad; it was a good choice, even if we did not get the result that we wanted. All of these things are now in the past, we want to start the Play Offs well, and be who we need to be in order to achieve our goals.»

On how PAOK are shaping up ahead of the start of the Play Offs:

«We will show that on the pitch. I do not like to talk too much about such things. I prefer for us to show what and where we are out on the pitch. We are tired of saying things; this is a difficult year and we have a long way to go until the end of the season.»

On the game with AEK:

«It will be a difficult match. They are a team who are above us in the table at the moment. We have to play like the PAOK we all know. We have to be completely focused to manage to win it.»

On what PAOK should pay attention to and what is required to win the game:

«I think that passion will be that which separates the teams. We have to be stronger and fight for every ball. We also have to start the match with the required respect and prepare to manage the game in the right way. It is a derby, a game that is decided by personal duels and the quality of the individual players. We have to go out there and produce all of these elements so we can take the win.»

On the draw with AEK in the Greek Cup and the consecutive games that the two teams will play against each other:

«Yes it’s true that we will play them in successive games, but this [the cup match], is later, and we are only focusing on what is in front of us now. And so we are focusing on Sunday’s match and nothing more.»