Benjamin Mora optimistic after Olimpia defeat: “The tie’s still open”

Atlas coach Benjamín Mora holds out hope that his side can make an epic comeback at Jalisco stadium in their CONCACAF Champions League Round of 16 against Olimpia. Mora’s men crashed to a 4-1 defeat to the Honduran side in the first leg in San Pedro Sula yet the coach insists that the tie is still alive.

“We didn’t expect this result,” he told reporters after the game. “The tie remains open, if they can beat us by three goals at their ground, I don’t see why we can’t do the same at ours. We have not given up hope yet. There are many lessons to be learned in every game. We have to sleep on this and thinking about what we didn’t do. Tomorrow, we have to turn our attentions to this weekend’s league game which we also need to win. We have to study the videos, find out what went wrong and learn from it,”.

Olympia taking nothing for granted

Olimpia will take a three-goal advantage into next week’s return leg but coach Pedro Troglio warned that his side face a much tougher test when the tie is resolved at Jalisco stadium but he will be preparing his team to perform at the level required in this tournament.

“I don’t think there’s much difference between a Honduran team and a Mexican team. We’ve shown for a long time that we’re here to play at a certain level, I feel like we’ve conveyed that to the people, but I’m cautious, and grateful to our fans for their support,” he said.

“I don’t want to sound pedantic, because it’s soccer and today we have only just played a very difficult and complicated first leg, but we’re talking about a Mexican side who only were recently two-time champions, so I’m being cautious. People have faith in our team and believe we can fight, I don’t know how far we can go - whether we can make it to the quarter finals or the semi-finals, but we have to compete and leave Honduran soccer on a good footing because I know how tough this competition is.”