Olimpia coach: I better not see a clean shirt after Libertadores final

Olimpia coach Ever Hugo Almeida has urged his players to give their all in the second leg of the Copa Libertadores final against Atlético Mineiro on Wednesday. The Paraguayan side hold a 2-0 advantage after the first leg but will face a difficult challenge at the Mineirão in Belo Horizonte. Atlético are confident that they […]
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sambafoot_admin
2013-07-24 23:00:00

Olimpia coach Ever Hugo Almeida has urged his players to give their all in the second leg of the Copa Libertadores final against Atlético Mineiro on Wednesday.

The Paraguayan side hold a 2-0 advantage after the first leg but will face a difficult challenge at the Mineirão in Belo Horizonte.

Atlético are confident that they can make a comeback but Almeida, who was part of the Copa Libertadores-winning Olimpia sides in 1979 and 1990, does not want to see a half-hearted performance from his side.

“I will probably tell my players that I don’t want to see a single clean shirt in the dressing room afterwards, but rather dirty, stained and sweat-soaked ones – torn and in shreds if that’s what it takes,” the 65-year-old told Fifa.com.

“It’s true, few people thought we could even get past the first round. The squad was practically the same group of players who had finished our league championship with a rout at the hands of a team that nearly went down.

“People ask me now if what we’ve done is a miracle, and I tell them no – it’s the fruit of hard work by a group that became convinced of what they could achieve if they united behind an idea.

“No-one gave us much of a chance in 1979 either, and nor was our football at a great level. It was like this season: a coach came along who got us playing a certain way and made us believe.”

The second leg of the Copa Libertadores final kicks off in the early hours of Thursday morning at 01:50 BST.

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sambafoot_admin
July 24, 2013