Panathinaikos lose tiebreak to French league leaders
News
The 29 points scored by their Danish opposite Rasmus Breuning Nielsen were not enough for Panathinaikos to secure a home victory in the first leg of the CEV Volleyball Challenge Cup – Men 8th Finals as the ‘Greens’ eventually lost at the tiebreak to TOURCOING Lille Métropole of France.
Stavros Kasampalis“Of course, when you do not win, you cannot be happy. However, I am satisfied with the fact that we made a comeback against a team that is first in the French league and has a lot of experience. In the tie-break we could have won, but we lost it in the details. We will try to qualify for the next round when we go to France.”
Player of Panathinaikos
Dimitrios Andreopoulos, head coach of Panathinaikos: “We knew from the beginning that the matches against TOURCOING Lille Métropole would be tight. We expected this type of match as much as we expect the rematch to be close as well so we will prepare accordingly.”
Simon Roehrig, player of TOURCOING Lille Métropole: “We played a strong match against a strong opponent that was decided in the tie-break. We took the first step today, but it is not enough, and we will have to play at a very high level at home to qualify to the next round.”
Dorian Rougeyron“Today we had a very tough game against Panathinaikos that was decided in a tie-break. For us, an important element for the victory was the mental stability that we showed throughout the match. Our minds are now on the rematch where we must show a similar image of ourselves.”
Head coach of TOURCOING Lille Métropole