At the press conference, Matias Almeida mentioned the sad things that happened after the final whistle of the German referee, Tobias Stiller, in the derby with PAOK.
The Argentinian coach admitted that he grabbed someone around the bench by the neck and in fact emphasized in his statements “when they push me, I will push”.
What Almeida said:
For the episode at the end of the match: “Did you see how many people were in the stadium? What I always say is that if we want to change the situation in Greek football, there cannot be so many people. There is no one at AEK matches. So who protects us on the field? I really don’t care if it was PAOK people or others, I just simply think that people should be more respectful. I respect the world and I want the same. when I see an injustice being done, I react. I am a human, blood flows in my veins. I’m not going to change the way I am as a person. I respect everyone whether I’m playing inside or outside and I want to be treated as a human being. I hope we don’t all have to be sad about something that has happened on the field. There can’t be 200 people on the field, we’re talking about football not American football. You can lose, you can win, but these things cannot exist in football. You who are in football, do you consider all this normal? How many were inside the pitch? Win or lose, we’re here to talk and help. Today the referee was German, at one point he told me that he couldn’t believe how many people were in the stadium. I don’t think this is a matter for the police. We didn’t lose for this game. I’m just answering the question. This is not good.
The truth is, this picture doesn’t help, at all. This holds football back. My own reaction was one that I don’t advise anyone to do. I had the opportunity before to apologize to the gentleman that this happened. Before I had received some pushes. If you push me, I’ll do the same. Because I don’t push, I talk. I accept defeats and criticism, but don’t let anyone challenge me. It’s very simple. If what I did is bad, yes it is. So the one who keeps his finger on the phone, because we also count the people who should have been on the pitch. There were people who shouldn’t have been there. I take responsibility for my bad reaction. Then look at the picture, so that there is no problem. If we zoom in a bit, more can be seen.”
For the derby with PAOK:
“I think it was a big game tonight. I believe that at some moments we followed the wrong path, we made mistakes, we made more mistakes, which were taken advantage of by PAOK, who took the victory. This shows the parity between the teams fighting for the title. When there is such a balance, you can’t make as many mistakes. The game at one point became very up and down. However, after so many mistakes, we are still in first place. You learn from mistakes. Especially when you understand them. Now, we have to fight in the two finals ahead of us. When so many mistakes are made in such games, it is natural for the opponent to take advantage of them. I have to congratulate the opponent and look ahead”.
#Almeida #admitted #grabbing #throat
2024-05-04 19:36:10
