Kyrastas: 'It could have been worse'

Panathinaikos FC coach Yannis Kyrastas felt his side were beaten by the best team in this season’s UEFA Champions League and had no complaints at Real Madrid CF’s 3-0 victory.

‘Fair result’
Two goals from Raúl Gonzáles and one from Iván Helguera rewarded Madrid’s dominance at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium to leave the Spanish side three points clear at the top of Group C. Kyrastas said: "The final score must be considered fair. It could have been even worse. Real Madrid is the team with the most quality of the competition.”

‘Too much respect’
Despite Madrid’s strength going forward, Kyrastas still reckoned Panathinaikos contributed to their own downfall. "We showed too much respect for Real Madrid," he said. "We had two main problems. We did not move the ball well and our defence did not close down the space allowed to their strikers."

‘Better second half’
He tried to change things at half-time with two substitutions – bringing on Derek Boateng and Giorgios Karagounis - and it almost worked. Kyrastas added: "We played much better in the first 15 minutes of the second half. We had two good opportunities. One goal could have changed everything but two errors in our defence led to their goals.”

‘Near maximum’
Madrid coach Vicente del Bosque was extremely satisfied with his players, saying: "Real has played a very complete match, especially during the first 75 minutes. We are very near to our maximum level."

‘Absolute control’
Del Bosque was delighted with what he described as "the balance between defence and attack". He added: “We were in absolute control. We were very balanced, kept the ball and controlled the tempo of the match."

‘Great step’
Madrid midfield player Albert Celades said: "It is a great step towards advancing to the following phase." Madrid now have six points from two matches and lead the table ahead of AC Sparta Praha who beat FC Porto 1-0 to claim their first points of the second group stage. Madrid entertain Porto in the next round of matches on 19 February, while Panathinaikos travel to Prague.