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Stelios Manolas spoke on the Football Idols by Stoiximan show about situations that built his character, the difficulties, but also about the 1994 World Cup and the match against Maradona.
In the big teams, especially in the 1980s and 1990s and before the “soccer borders” were opened with the free movement of footballers, the sports fans used to reduce some of the important players of the teams to their… flags.
If one were looking for a prime example, one would not have to look far. A look at the history of AEK would be enough to find the player who did not wear any other shirt in his career, except the yellow and black.
The reason, of course, is for Stelios Manolas, who managed to emerge from the team’s academies and become one of its most historic players, recording a 19-year career at a high level.
In these 19 championships that he played in AEK, Stelios Manolas experienced both pleasant and difficult situations, but as he says in today’s episode of Football Idols by Stoiximan, these situations were what built his character.
From the first years of Barlou’s presidency and the dressing rooms full of legendary players, to the famous phase with Detari’s header save in OAKA. The one who, as he says: “some higher power took her out”.
And from the alans in the area around New Philadelphia, to the 1994 world cup and the match against Maradona.
Stelios Manolas opens the pages of his huge career one by one and through Football Idols by Stoiximan he recalls the years when he stepped on the grass of “Nikos Goumas”, but also of the great stadiums of Europe and the world.
“The people of AEK at the time embraced me. First of all, the oldest president, the president of presidents, Lukas Barlos, who not only showed interest, but also gave us a salary perhaps even bigger than the first team. Somehow, I started, I understood that this was my future.”
He said about the ’89 championship: “We got to this marginal game, where the championship was decided, but we won it with a draw. I had been through everything and I had a huge burden on me. I was fighting with the management and saying that people can’t just curse me. If I don’t we were winning the championship, I was thinking of stopping. How to get off? I didn’t have the courage.
I was talking to Pitta at night and I was saying “hey what if we don’t get it? I would give all my money to get it”. He says to me “how much do you give if I guarantee you that we will get him?”. I say to him “how much is our premium? 2 million? “I want 500,000″, he told me”. We won the championship and he came the next day and took them.
There is this moment called Divine Judgment. Did God take pity on me? Did he want to help AEK? This phase was not happening. Because if we really accept this goal at this stage, it could not be turned. Olympiacos was better. This phase came and the ball came out. This phase doesn’t come out, someone took it out.”
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