Head coach of Greek Panathinaikos Ivan Jovanovic said what he expects from his team's return match against Dnipro 1 in the 2nd qualifying round of the Champions League, which will be held today in Athens. Recall, the first meeting of the rivals ended with a victory of the Greeks with a score of 3:1.
"Any Champions League qualification match has its pitfalls. And it is quite normal, because we are talking about the first official matches of the season. Such matches require special attention and concentration.
We needed a good analysis of the first match with Dnipro-1, and we did it. We achieved a good result, showed a good game. All this gives us an advantage before the return match. But we must not forget that Dnipro-1 is a quality team. In the first match we mostly controlled the game, but at the slightest mistake the opponent created threats.
We must be humble, focused, it is the beginning of the season. An important game awaits us.
Tactics for the return match with Dnipro-1? In the two years that I've been at Panathinaikos, we have never started a match with the plan to give space or the ball to the opponent. However, we should always remember that there is not only us on the pitch, but the other team with their own plans and objectives. It should be taken into account.
But there will be no excessive respect for Dnipro-1 during the game from our side - we intend to dictate our own terms, as in the first match. So we will take to the pitch without looking back at the result of the first match and with the desire to stick to our usual philosophy of the game," Jovanovic said at the pre-match press conference.