‘Tryfilli’ triumph leaves Mourinho eating his words

By: Peter Katsiris | November 26th, 2008

The final whistle at the San Siro tonight sure left a sweet taste for Panathinaikos, as the Greek giants defied all odds and beat Inter Milan 1-0 to keep their UEFA Champions League aspirations alive. With Inter Milan’s manager, Jose Mourinho, classifying the Greek club and the entirety of the Greek Super League of a ‘different reality’, it was clear Panathinaikos wanted to defend its honour and stir an upset in Milan. A Jose Sarriegi strike did just that, and Panathinaikos stunned the Italian giants with a slim win in front of an audience featuring 5,000 Panathinaikos supporters.

Mourinho was reluctant to to concede the match to Panathinaikos, instead of highlighting the Greeks’ success the Portuguese manager was instead wary of the problems his side experienced on Wednesday night.

“After today’s performance we don’t deserve to go home relaxed having qualified – it would have been fairer if we had to travel to Bremen with pressure on the final day,” explained Mourinho.

“We were lucky to go through after what was a just defeat. The coach is always responsible for defeats so I’m here to listen and accept all the criticisms. We were tired mentally and physically after the great performance against Juventus in Serie A. We relaxed a bit after that game. I never like to lose, not even when we’ve already gone through.”

“I don’t think there’s much difference between qualifying first and second in the group because teams like Chelsea, Liverpool and Real Madrid can all finish second, but we will go to Bremen to win. Panathinaikos defended very well, both in the first half when we tried to attack through the middle and in the second when we tried to attack via the flanks. They were better than us today; we were tired, lacking focus and confidence.”

“In 2003 when I was at Porto we won 2-0 at Panathinaikos and lost 1-0 at home and we ended up winning the UEFA Cup.”

Depite Henk Ten Cate initiating the war of words before the match, the Dutch manager was also fortunate to have the last laugh on Wednesday night as his pregame declaration “we are not afraid of Inter” was upheld at the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium. Instead of responding with an “I told you so” like statement, Ten Cate acknowledged his team’s effort and the support from the five thousand supporters on hand in Milan.

“We have just finished a game against Inter at San Siro so I don’t think it’s time to start thinking about the last game in the group just yet,” said Ten Cate.

“Normally after starting [a UEFA Champions league campaign] with two defeats it’s game over, but I told my players there were still four games to play. We started to build this team in the summer and we are improving quickly, week after week, and play better as a team in Europe than we do in the domestic league.”

“If you are as organised as we were today then you can surprise many teams in Europe, even big ones like Inter. However, the most important thing is having the confidence to play your game away from home.”

“We have begun to believe that we can win away and this is crucial for a team like ours. It was an important win and we had a great support from the 5,000 supporters that followed us to Milan – we should dedicate this win to them.”

Despite Ten Cate acknowledging the task at hand for Panathinaikos, the Dutch manager will need to have a different view in less than a fortnight, when Anorthosis Famagusta makes its way to Athens. For Inter, qualification is sealed as just placement affects the Italian giants. With a win against Werder Bremen in Germany Inter will secure its place atop Group B, but anything less would see the ‘Nerrazurri’ need to rely on the match in Greece for the club’s table-topping prophecy.