«Defense is the starting point»

Olympiacos visits Real Madrid on Thursday (28/01, 21:45) for the fifth round of the Euroleague TOP16. A little before the delegation’s departure for the Spanish capital, our team coach, Giannis Sfairopoulos and Giannis Athinaiou spoke about the match up against the Madrilène.

Here is what they said:

GIANNIS SFAIROPOULOS: «We continue with our effort for the Euroleague with a difficult game on the road. We have to face the European Champion in its home court in a repetition of last year’s Euroleague final. However, this season’s game has nothing to do with last season’s. Both teams are very different. Real is still the favorite in its home court. We, on the other hand, are determined to fight with all we’ve got to get a positive result. Real Madrid is a team with great productivity, scored an average of 90 points at home and what we need to do is control the rhythm of the game and use our defense as a starting point”.

GIANNIS ATHINAIOU: «We have a very difficult mission ahead of us. Following two consecutive victories at the beginning of the TOP16, we had two losses and we now are at a 2-2 record in a group where each game is a final. So is the game against Real Madrid, a very tough one and we are going to need to remain absolutely focused to achieve our goal. Real Madrid is one of the toughest home courts in Europe. Nevertheless, we are going there to play our game. We need to try and bring the game to our standards, play our defense and try to control the rhythm. I think this is going to be they ‘key’ to the game”.