Panathinaikos prove Gilberto’s point
November 5, 2008
Gilberto insisted that an excellent all-round team display earned Panathinaikos FC their 3-0 win against Werder Bremen at the Weserstadion.
‘Excellent display’
The midfielder was one of the outstanding figures for Panathinaikos on the night. The 32-year-old hardly misplaced a pass and directed play from the centre of the park. Nonetheless, the Brazilian international refused to take any credit for the win. “It was an excellent display from the whole team,” he told uefa.com. “Everybody worked really hard to get a result here tonight. I was especially pleased with the way we passed the ball. We showed great quality out there today and that is what we need to take into the upcoming matches.”Defensive diligence
Gilberto was particularly pleased with the way Panathinaikos played in defence. “I think we defended really well today and we showed real resilience,” he said. “We must remember that Bremen have excellent strikers in Markus Rosenberg and Claudio Pizarro and they are really difficult to mark. They also have Diego in midfield. Everybody did really well to stop them from scoring.”No surprise
Though many were surprised to see the Greek side win so comfortably, Gilberto felt Panathinaikos had only fulfilled their potential. “I know a lot of people will be surprised by the result but I can tell you that we have a lot of quality in this side,” he explained. “We came here to win, we believed in our own ability and even when they put pressure on us early in the second half we waited for our chances and made full use of them when they came along. I always felt really comfortable during the game and my team-mates did too.”Gilberto optimistic
With Panathinaikos now third in Group B with four points, the former Arsenal FC star is optimistic that the Greek outfit will progress to the knockout stage of the UEFA Champions League. He said: “We now have everything in our own hands again and that is great but we need to keep up the good work and then hopefully we will still be in with a chance of progressing when we take on Anorthosis Famagusta [FC] in our final group match.”