Bayern opponent! Paphos coach: I was Emery s assistant and I can t imagine fighting with Bayern

Bayern will face Cyprus champion Paphos in the Champions League. Paphos coach Juan Carlos Casedo was interviewed and talked about his coaching experience and his opponent Bayern.

You have been Emery's assistant coach for 14 years, coaching top clubs such as Sevilla, Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal. What brought you to Paphos, Cyprus?

After working as an assistant coach for such a long time, I also want to work as a head coach. In 2023, I received an invitation from Paphos, which can provide much more than food, sunshine and a comfortable life. This event is very exciting, and participating in international events was already a goal at that time. However, at that time no one could dream that we could compete in the Champions League now. The atmosphere of the

team must be very good

Yes! Paphos is now filled with a wonderful high spirit. We have been increasingly filling our stadiums lately, which can accommodate about 12,000 spectators. This is already a lot for a city with about 50,000 residents during the off-season of tourism. The club has been awarded the Champions League for the first time in history, and the credit of two investors is also due to the two investors. Yes, the bosses have been investing in the team for eight or nine years. They not only invest in the team, but also invest in infrastructure, because in some aspects, the infrastructure also needs to keep up with our competitive success. For example, the club plans to build a new stadium because our existing stadium does not have permission to participate in the Champions League, so we have to play our home European game in Limassol (one hour drive away).

But the investment is not huge. According to data from the German "Transfer Market" website, your team is worth 25.4 million euros. And your next opponent, Bayern, has an estimated price of more than 905 million euros.

So it has been a historic success for us to become a Cyprus champion for the first time last season and to qualify for the Champions League by defeating strong teams like Dynamo Kiev and Red Star Belgrade. We are now the "Cinderella" in this event. Maybe no one is optimistic about us, and it seems we can easily be beaten.

How do you evaluate the gap between your team and the top European teams?

In Spain, we may be a top team in the SSE, or a team that is fighting for relegation in La Liga. But we will fight with every opponent. On days of good condition, we can also be competitive in the Champions League, and the 0-0 draw with Olympiacos away from home has proved this. What are the possible results for

against Bayern? Club honorary chairman Heness believes his team is an "outsider" in Europe this year

(laughs) I don't think so! In my opinion, based on Bayern's first few matches in the Bundesliga and Champions League, they are now more like the team in Europe in terms of form. I can’t assert whether they will fight for the championship until the end, because in the football world, ups and downs in form or injuries can make things change rapidly. But to me, Bayern is definitely one of the six or seven teams that will fight for the championship to the end. Nevertheless, we will never give up on the game early. Because it will be a historic night for the entire city. Bayern will visit as a Champions League opponent one day, which was completely unimaginable until not long ago. Now we just want to enjoy it all.

The head coach you worked with for a long time is a true "Bayern nemesis". In 2022, he led Villarreal to eliminate Bayern with a total score of 1-1 and 1-0 in the quarterfinals. Last season, he led Aston Villa to beat them 1-0 in the Champions League stage. Have you asked him for tips?

Not yet. But we still maintain a very good and close relationship. We regularly talk to the phone, talk about some private matters, and of course we also talk about football.

How many shadows of Emery are there in you?

The level of work we currently work as head coaches is very different. Emery has already done outstanding work in top clubs. But of course, after working together for a long time, we have very similar ways of working and many things in common. One of them will be especially important for our Paphos in the Champions League: We must work hard to adapt to our opponents and find clever ways to deal with their strengths. This is what Unai did particularly well, and we need to do it now so that we can compete with top teams like Bayern when our strength is at a disadvantage.

How will it fight against Bayern?

We hope to play bravely at home. We can also oppress and we will look for opportunities to fight back. We did a good job in setting pieces, too. Of course, it will all depend on what kind of opportunity Bayern will leave us. But why can't we have a perfect day, maybe taking away a point or even more?