Olympiacos scorers get just desserts

Paulo Machado was voted UEFA.com Player Rater winner and was beaming after Olympiacos FC's 3-1 win against Montpellier Hérault SC "because we did everything we had to do". As for Montpellier, penalty-scorer Younes Belhanda was left to rue the errors that led to Olympiacos's victory in Piraeus, acknowledging "the first mistake was mine".

Paulo Machado, Olympiacos midfielder
I am very satisfied because, first of all, we deserved to win. We did everything we had to. This victory was a must if we were to entertain a realistic hope of making it to the next round – and we did it. The match was a bit complicated – Saturday's league encounter was very intense and tonight we were a bit tired. Since joining Olympiacos, I have had chances to score but I didn't convert them. Now I am off the mark and I want to make the most of this momentum. After the two victories over Montpellier we intend to go to Schalke to get at least a point, and then defeat Arsenal here.

Leandro Greco, Olympiacos midfielder
I am very happy with everything today, because we won a very important match and because I scored – so it is doubly satisfying for me. We played a complete match – we defended, attacked and fought together as a squad and in the end deserved the win. The main thing was to win today – now, we’ll see what we can achieve in the last two matches. One never knows what can happen in football. Of course, our aim is to qualify and to give it our all. As for me, the more I play, the better my physical condition is. I am satisfied with my game today, but even more happy with this important win.

Younes Belhanda, Montpellier midfielder
We are somewhat frustrated to lose this match, because we managed to equalise. Two small errors cost us. The first mistake was mine – I kicked the ball away but it went into the path of the guy that took the shot. Olympiacos's third goal was the end of us. It was very difficult afterwards to turn around a two-goal deficit. Now, the most important thing is to forget tonight's match and then focus on what we can do against Arsenal and Schalke. There is a very slim chance to qualify for the Europa League but, if that's not possible, we will concentrate on our league.

The Champions League is a competition for the big clubs. We are not quite ready for this kind of competition. Olympiacos are a big team and have proved themselves in the Europa League and Champions League. It's our first time – we are debutants facing big clubs.

Anthony Mounier, Montpellier forward
We came here in search of a positive result that could revive our qualification hopes, but we missed our chance and it's a pity that we couldn't do more. We conceded very early. We managed to create some chances but failed to make the most of them. We are just getting started in the Champions League and we have some young players. Olympiacos may not be among Europe's greats, but they are used to this competition – they know how to handle these matches, better than us for sure, as witnessed in both encounters.

In France, we conceded in the last minute, while today we managed to equalise but then conceded two goals, one immediately after the other – that hurt us. Now we must apply ourselves to the maximum. There is a slight chance to qualify for the Europa League if we win both our remaining matches. In football everything is possible, even if that is a tall order. And even if we go out, we want to leave the competition with our heads held high.