Olympiacos defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos says it is “bizarre” to be facing Arsenal just months after leaving them, but he is determined to shackle the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and dump his old team-mates out of the Europa League.
Sokratis left Arsenal towards the end of January after he and the club agreed to mutually terminate his contract six months early.
The 32-year-old centre-back used the opportunity to join a new club and he agreed a two-year deal with Olympiacos five days later.
Sokratis, however, will now face his old Arsenal team-mates on Thursday after Olympiacos drew the Gunners in the last-16 of the Europa League.
The Greek defender spent two and a half years at Arsenal and, while he admits it will be odd to come up against his old team-mates, Sokratis is determined to be on the winning side.
“As far as I am concerned it is a bit bizarre [to be playing Arsenal], as two months ago I was a team-mate with many of these guys from Arsenal,” he said.
“This is not something that you get every day in football. However, it is a major challenge for me. It’s a new challenge and my mind is set on winning.
“I have a great relationship with my former team-mates in Arsenal, Dortmund and Milan. This is something that is part of football, especially with players having been playing for various clubs.
“It is tough to play against top players. We know Aubameyang and [Alexandre] Lacazette are great players and if they have their day they can decide a match, however tomorrow we will be the ones to win the match and have a great evening.”
Sokratis left Arsenal in January after not playing a single minute for them this season.
The defender, along with Mesut Ozil, was excluded from both the club’s Europa League and Premier League squad last summer and as such he was unable to feature in either competition.
“Both I and the coach and the team’s executives at that time know exactly what happened and as far as I am concerned I have to say that I faced all the difficulties the way I should,” said Sokratis.
“I was absolutely professional from day one when I joined the team.
“Tomorrow it is going to be Olympiacos versus Arsenal, nothing more than that. We have to all be focused on the 90 minutes of the match in order to get what we want.
“Now, with what we should pay attention to, it is something we have to discuss and we will discuss with our coach. We have to display that we have understood that on the pitch tomorrow.”
