The bus which took the FC Nantes players directly from Athens airport to Karaiskakis Stadium arrived after dark. In the process, coach Antoine Kombouaré and his right side, Dennis Appiah, presented themselves in the auditorium of the stadium of Olympiakos, the last opponent of the Canaries this Thursday in the group stage of the Europa League. Concentrated, the former Anderlecht player with 20 European caps expressed his determination and that of his teammates, a few hours from facing Michel’s protégés. “But we don’t expect them to give up“, he blurts out. Interview.
“A huge chance to continue the adventure”
How are you approaching this last Europa League group stage match?
We have a huge chance of continuing the adventure by winning the match, there is no calculation to be made. We’re getting ready to do what it takes to carry onif possible, the European adventure in the Europa League.
Are you less under pressure, knowing that you are guaranteed to be European in February?
We will not have the situation that Marseille experienced, yesterday, but a game we play to win. We are therefore necessarily in this state of mind. We have a lot more to win than to lose so it’s pretty cool and we’re going to do everything to play a good match and stay in this competition.
I know the team is capable of winning away from home, I know we’re not just a good team at home.
Which Olympiakos team do you expect, knowing that they are eliminated from all competitions?
They have nothing left to play, it’s true, but in European matches there is no friendly. I think they are going to put together a competitive team, they haven’t won yet, what’s more against their public, so we expect a complicated and close match. We don’t expect them to back down.
Do you feel that the sequence of encounters weighs on you?
That’s what we came for last season by winning this final. I had the chance to know rhythm a few years ago by chaining every three days, it’s not what is the simplest but it’s what we love and dream of having every year. We try not to complain and to be as fit as possible during matches. For the competitors that we are, we are happy to have two or three matches a week and, personally, I am happy to take part in these meetings each time.
“We try not to die when we concede a goal”
Can winning this match against Olympiakos be a trigger before your trip to Reims?
The best way to prepare for Sunday’s game is to play a consistent game and get a good result. When this is the case, we rest better and we approach the upcoming meeting better. and that’s the best way to work for the next game on Sunday, I would be lying if I said otherwise.
The fact of not having won away since April 3, is it something that is starting to weigh?
We are also waiting for this away victory, we are working for it we could have had it last week
, we don’t know what happened but we moved on. I know that the team is capable of it, I know that we are not only a good team at home, we are also on the outside but we have to show it now.
Are you surprised by your ability to bounce back in meetings in recent weeks?
It’s a bit like last season, where sometimes we were behind and we had this character to make things happen. Every time we concede a goal it’s difficult, but we try not to die as a result of it, we want to give our all until the end and we see that if we don’t suffer things, we push and we are active in what we do, we are often rewarded and it is in this perspective that we must work to get results. They don’t come by themselves, they are not given to us and we have to go looking for them even more to get them.