PERISTERI — PAOK head coach Andrea Trinchieri said he was proud of his players despite a 101-96 loss to Olympiacos in the Greek Super Cup final at the Andreas Papandreou Hall in Peristeri, while voicing sharp frustration with the officiating after a second-half comeback fell short.
Speaking to SKAI and at the post-game press conference, Trinchieri opened angrily when asked for an initial reaction: “We lost the final, yes. What answer do you want me to give? I am very angry. If you ask a better question, I will give a better answer.” He then turned to the whistle, saying, “We saw more than 30 free throws, four technical fouls. I don't understand how they are blowing the whistle. But when you lose, you shouldn't feel defeated.” He added, “We didn't do a good job understanding what the referees were calling. We need to be better, we need to understand which way the referees are taking the game. In two games, five of my six challenges were correct, a good rate.”
The Italian coach stressed effort over result and pointed to Olympiacos' continuity with a joke: “We fought, we gave everything. We are a new team. Olympiacos has been the same team since World War II. I am very honest, I am proud of my players. We did everything we could.” He credited the champions — “I counted at least eight great baskets they found through talent. They are European champions and we lost by a single shot” — and addressed the slow start after the Panathinaikos semifinal, saying, “In the first half we had no energy. You can't play like that against such a team. In the second half we fought. We gave everything we could, there was no fuel left in the tank.”
Trinchieri said the project requires a larger leap — “I knew coming to PAOK that moving the team up just one level would not be enough. We need to take everything we do two or three levels up because the gap is still very big” — invoking the adage that Rome was not built in a day and that his players are learning to play for PAOK, not themselves. Asked about transfers, he declined to look ahead: “I just lost a final and I can't think about that right now. I want to focus on the players we have.” The defeat follows Olympiacos' fifth straight Super Cup title and came after PAOK pushed the favorites to a one-shot game.