Angelos Anastasiadis attended the post-match press conference and here is what he said:

“We had been looking for excuses to lose. But we threw them all away, despite some incidents not worth mentioning here. We relied on our tactics and our soul and let go of any excuses. We dealt with everything thrown at us without using it as an excuse”.

“I said right from the start of the season that PAOK are forced into going after the league title, as are Olympiacos or Panathinaikos. Today we made a step forward, but it’s not the definite step. I pray each day in order not to go insane. We must not let this victory turn our heads. We have to focus on the Xanthi encounter and deal with our problems. The match against Olympiacos is over and everybody should realize that. It’s harder to persuade the players to be better against Xanthi than against Olympiacos. That is what “going after the league title” means. That is what we are working on and we still have a long way to go”.

“Ever since my previous spell here, Salpingidis has been rendering at a high level. It’s too easy to point fingers at a player of such moral stature. But that’s Greece for you. We throw stones at trees!”

“Tzavellas was substituted off in the previous encounter and asked for permission to visit his personal physician. His doctor did nothing, our doctor did all the work. We have the best medical team, players from other clubs flock in to get examined by our doctors. Tzavellas wasn’t ready to play today. If he tells us that he is ready for the Xanthi game, we will decide accordingly. I can cover for Tzavellas, but that would leave our doctor exposed. That man used to operate non-stop, but now he is performing only five surgeries per month because of PAOK, losing time and money. We should thank that man, our doctor. Nobody can say a foul word about my collaborators, they are the best. Skondras has indeed a problem, but I don’t know the extent of it yet”.

“Olympiacos and PAOK face similar problems, stemming for back-to-back matches. It’s better to have the toughest encounters away from home in such a heavy calendar. We lost our home game to Panathinaikos, as Olympiacos lost today. Panathinaikos had nothing to lose then. We also had nothing to lose today, even a draw would suffice –but we managed to get 100% of what we were after. It will be tough to face Olympiacos at Toumba Stadium. My players and I wish for Olympiacos to qualify in the UEFA Champions League knock-out stage. We don’t think as some fools do. We stand by the Greek team, not by Swedes or Australians”.