The Greek champions stunned Arsenal in the previous round of the Europa League with a last-minute winner, but Wolves know, should they keep a clean sheet on Thursday, they’ll avoid the same fate as the Gunners. Wolves have kept seven clean sheets across the Europa League this season and their right-wing back is looking for more of the same at Molineux on Thursday evening.
On reuniting with Olympiacos
“We played behind closed doors and I remember them being quite a good team. They had ten men, but still scored and looked threatening. They knocked Arsenal out, so we know they’re a top side – a possession-based team, so we’re going to have to be defensively sharp.”
On tough opponents across the board
“It’s one-legged [quarter finals onwards] and you could say it about anyone who gets into the competition this late, that on their day everybody can beat everybody. If we get through, which I hope we do, not many teams are going to want to face us in a one-off game, so I’d really fancy our chances to do something.”
On keeping ticking over since Chelsea
“After the Sunday game, we had Monday and Tuesday off, and we had the weekend off, so I was in London, I played some golf and we had family time too – I had the whole of lockdown with the family, so when I got a few days off, I was going to play golf.”
On improvements this season
“We beat City twice, so I guess, against these teams we seem to play really, really well. Last season we lost twice to Huddersfield, lost to Cardiff, and dropped points against the teams that were in the bottom half of the table.
“This season we’ve been more ruthless and managed to put these teams away, while still maintaining good results against the top half teams.”
Joao Moutinho talks his experience of the business end of European competition in the Olympiacos programme.
— Wolves (@Wolves) August 2, 2020
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On taking on big clubs
“You look at the results against the so called top six and we’ve beaten all of them in the space of two seasons. It’s maybe the way we setup.
“The top teams will always fancy themselves to beat you, so maybe they take a few more risks and we’re a good counter attacking team with a lot of pace.
“The way these teams play against us suits us, we can sit back and once we win the ball, we can all just go, and it’s been quite successful with the results we’ve got.”
On his energy to get up and down
“It is difficult. You’ll see Wolves release clips on YouTube of goals from all the angles sometimes. They showed that goal [his 2018 winner at Newcastle] from all angles. They were breaking, it was the 95th minute, so I was in our box in case it came in, then my head went down, and I thought, ‘I’ve got to go again’.
“I could easily have stayed there because it was the last minute, but I honestly remember thinking to myself as we won the ball back, ‘They have ten men, we’re breaking, the ball might come out to me, or if it goes to the left, something might pop up at the back post’.
“That’s exactly what I said to myself, it was the last minute of the game, give it one more run and see what happens. If it came out and I wasn’t there, I would have regretted it. I couldn’t believe it popped up for me after I just said it to myself, so I headed it in, and it was one of the best feelings I had all last season.”
