Andreas Samaris played with a director and thought he was a coach

The “ball of the moment” comes from Greece coritiba. the steering wheel Andreas Samaris, aged 34, signed a pre-contract and is expected at the club to be confirmed as another reinforcement for the season sequence. Like the Algerian striker Slimani, Samaris also played in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

First defensive midfielder, Samaris has already played for two seasons with the head of Coritiba, Artur Moraes, responsible for hiring the player, who was already considering retirement and thinking about pursuing a career as a coach.

“Family issues weighed heavily, as well as a reflection on the future, as Samaris feels more challenged to prepare for the future as a coach than to continue playing without feeling so stimulated. Only a proposal considered irrefutable from the exotic landscapes of football could still make the Greek prolong his career for another season, being, at this stage, absolutely at peace with the decision to abandon football, in what is the pleasure of playing it, since that Samaris has the firm intention of training and preparing carefully for the future”, says the article published in June by The gameafter leaving Rio Ave, his last club.

O OneTwo Sports brings more about the player’s career, trajectory and numbers!

Career

Samaris spent ten years building the PAO Vardasand started as a professional in 2006 for Panachaiki, aged 17. Later, in 2010, he signed with panionosand three years later he moved to the Olympiacos, all from Greece. in the latter, he was champion in 2013 – he played 34 games as a starter.

But it was in Portuguese lands that the player spent most of his career, from 2014 to 2021. There were seven seasons in Benfica, from Portugal, where he won 8 titles and achieved idol status: he was champion of the Portuguese League (4 times), in addition to the Taça de Portugal (1), Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (1), Taça da Liga (1) and Liga Greek (1). Altogether, competed 196 games for the club, with six goals and ten assists. At the time of his signing, he signed a five-year contract and cost 10 million euros at the request of the then coach Jorge Jesus.

“He’s a player with very high intensity. I wanted to take Samaris to Al-Hilal. I spoke to him several times and he said ‘I’m not going mister’, he told me he was going to be a starter at Benfica. And he was! a player who also has a very beautiful history at Benfica”, said Jorge Jesus in an interview from 2020.

Another experience of the player was in Holland, defending the fortune sittard, where he arrived at the end of 2021, playing 20 games. He was playing at Rio Avealso from Portugal.

How to play?

First defensive midfielder, Samaris is 1.89m tall, marksmanship, high intensity and good passing. With a leadership profile, he arrives with the expectation of qualifying Coritiba’s defensive sector, which has suffered from failures in sequence. Sunken in the relegation zone, Coxa has the second worst defense in the Brasileirão, with 42 goals conceded – two more than América-MG, which leads the negative aspect.

In this context, Samaris could be an important piece to protect the alviverde defense, giving more freedom, for example, to Sebastian Gómez and Bruno Gomes. Another aspect considered in hiring the Greek is that Coritiba currently only has Willian Farias as the first midfielder on the team – the player has not played for over three months.

Samaris hasn’t been on the pitch since May 26when he was in the starting line-up for the Rio Ave with FC Famalicão, for the Portuguese Championship. Last season, he played 27 games for the club, 20 as a starter, seven as a substitute, and provided six assists.

Goal in Cup

In an emotional and historic match, Samaris felt the taste of scoring in a World Cup. In 2014, in Brazil, he scored one of the goals in Greece’s victory over Côte d’Ivoire, 2-1, the first classification in history in the round of 16 of the competition.

The midfielder’s goal came in the 42nd minute in front of 59,000 people at Arena Castelão, in Fortaleza. In the move, Tioté made a big mistake in a ball outing, Samaris countered with Samaras and, free, came out in the face of goalkeeper Barry from Ivory Coast and concluded well to make the first of the duel in Fortaleza (watch below). The curiosity is that the player started the match on the bench – he came on in the 11th minute, replacing Kone, who was injured.

Datasheet

Full name: Andreas Samaris
Birth: 06/13/1989 (Patras, Greece)
Position: steering wheel
Height: 1.89m
Career: PAO Vardas-GRE, Panachaiki-GRE, Panionos-GRE, Olympiacos-GRE, Benfica-POR, Fortuna Sittard-HOL and Rio Ave (POR).