Sport24.az
Sakis Tsiolis, the head coach of Apollon Smirnis and a veteran football player of the Greek national team, spoke about Aris' failure in the second qualifying round of the Conference League against Araz-Nakhchivan. Sport24.az reports that the 66-year-old coach said in a statement to Metropolis 95.5 FM that Araz-Nakhchivan played more intelligently:
"Araz-Nakhchivan" is a very good team. When I was the head coach of "Asteras", we played against the Azerbaijani club "Inter" (now "Shamakhi"). Football is developing in Azerbaijan. A large number of players from Latin America go there. Azerbaijani teams have reached a new level. "Aris" should have taken "Araz-Nakhchivan" more seriously. From the first minutes, from the shots on goal, it was felt that our team should play as compactly as possible and not concede a goal. "Araz-Nakhchivan" took advantage of the free zones very well, and was effective in counterattacks.
The first goal scored by "Araz-Nakhchivan" was a strong psychological blow for "Aris". In general, in terms of quality and level, we were stronger. But in football, the strong do not always win. The smarter side wins. The penalty awarded against "Aris" was a gift from the referee to "Araz-Nakhchivan". It was an unacceptable penalty."
