Lountzis: «We must play tougher than them»

Olympiacos will be playing tomorrow (27/10, 20.00 CET) against Red Star and Michalis Lountzis is counting a lot on the support of the ‘reds’ fans, although the allowed number in the stands (due to the pandemic restrictions) is very limited.

“We are always happy to return home, even though this means very few fans in the bleachers. I believe they are going to help us a lot to get the win. We are coming from two negative results. We did not give our best in those games, that’s why tomorrow we need to get on the floor and give 100% from the very first minute. It is imperative that we fight for every play and I believe this will give us the win”.

The Olympiacos’ guard talked about the toughness required from him and his team mates. “Red Star is a team that plays very hard and maybe that had been our mistake in the first round game, that we hadn’t been ready for such kind of playing. Now we are better prepared and we need to come in be tougher than them, so as to get the victory”.

Finally, asked whether Kalinic is the player the ‘reds’ defense would need to ‘destroy’, he replied: “He had inflicted great damage on us in the first game. We are going to be focusing on him, but also on every other player of our opponent. We have quality and we have proven that in many games. Just like I said before, if we start strong from the start and set the tempo, we are going to be the ones to laugh at the end”.