Olympiakos vs PSV Europa League Breakdown Dodged a Bullet

Olympiakos vs PSV Europa League Breakdown

Dodged a Bullet

By Steve Kountourou

Now that the Europa League draw has concluded we finally know, after Olympiakos haphazardly qualified for the Round of 32, who Thrylos will face in the new year. There was hope from supporters of the Greek Champions, that their team would be given a more forgiving draw then they may have previously received in previous campaigns. After a disappointing end to their Champions League campaign it was hard to see, out of the other sides that had also reached this stage, what a more favourable draw would look like from the wealth of talented sides. We had to wait till the final draws had been made, with bated breath, before Olympiakos were finally handed Dutch side, PSV Eindhoven. 

 

At a first glance it could have been far worse a match up with sides like Napoli, Spurs, Bayer leverkusen and Real Sociedad lurking in wait when the draw first began But thankfully at this stage at least, Thrylos will facing a side that many people believe, myself included, is very much a realistic chance of progressing to the Round of 16. That is not to say PSV is a bad side, far from it. The former Dutch champions and European Cup winners have a great pedigree as well as a wealth of talented players who could give their Greek opponents some trouble. With that, and despite this tie being a couple of months away, I thought it would be fun to do a deep dive on Olympiakos upcoming opponents in the Europa League. As they fared this season in the UEL group stages, their season domestically, previous records vs Greek opposition and players who have been part of both clubs in the past, and in some cases the present.   

PSV Europa League record this season

Match Day 1. Things did not seem to go much better for them at first as they travelled to Nicosia in a clash against Omonia, and went 1-0 down in the first thirty minutes. They were saved minutes before half time via an equaliser from Dutch forward Donyell Malen. The 21 year old would go on to score a second which was a late winner in the 92nd minute to give his side the 3 points. 

 

As Match Day 3 loomed PSV were hit by a mixture of Injuries and Covid19 case meaning over a dozen first team players were out for the game against PAOK in Thessaloniki. Despite going ahead, with Zahavi scoring a penalty, they were demolished by a fantastic 2nd half performance from PAOK and lost 4-1. PVS were on the ropes by Match Day 4 with their Europa League place hanging in the balance and it went from bad to worse as they found themselves 0-2 at home to PAOK. Somehow PSV were able to come back and keep their qualification hopes alive with a 3-2 win over a dejected PAOK side.  

 

Match Day 5 saw a top of the group clash in the return tie away in Spain against Granada, where this time the Dutch side came out on top with a 0-1 win thanks to that man Malen who, up till that point, had been excellent for PSV. By the final group stage PSV were in auto pilot and finished their Europa League campaign in style, smashing Omonia 4-0 at home and finishing top of Group E.

Head to Head Record against Dutch and Greek Opposition 

Olympiakos and PSV have never faced off in a competitive fixture before so this will be the first time that the two sides play one another. They did however, play a friendly fixture way back when, in 2018, when after a ten minute purple patch in the second half, PSV ran out 4-0 winners over Thrylos. As said before, this previous result will not affect either side hugely with regards to this upcoming tie. To better gauge on how both teams size up to one another I will be taking a look at how each side has performed against other sides from both the Netherlands and Greece respectively. 

 

Olympiakos  

Thylos first ever encounter with a Dutch side came in the First Round of the European Cup in 1983/84 where they squared off against Ajax. Despite both legs ending 0-0 in normal time, legendary striker Nikos Anastopoulos scored two goals in extra time to win Olympiakos the tie in front of fans in the OAKA and go to the Second Round. A few years later, in the 1986/87 addition of the Cup Winners Cup, Thrylos would have a rematch with Ajax, only this time things went very differently. The Amsterdam side demolished Olympiakos 4-0 at home before drawing 1-1 in Greece and seeing themselves comfortably progress to the next round. 

 

Over ten years past, and for the 3rd and final time, Olympiakos and Ajax would meet again, this time in the Champions League groups stage during that famous 1998/98 European run for Thrylos. After famously defeating the former European champions 1-0 at the Olympic Stadium, Olympiakos would suffer their only loss of the group in Amsterdam 2-0. Despite this, the Erythrolefki would finish top of the group, with Ajax finishing uncharacteristically in 4th, where they would progress to the quarterfinals and narrowly miss out on a semi final place, thanks to Juventus. 

 

In the years preceding the plethora of ties with Ajax, Olympiakos would face an new Dutch side, in the form Heerenveen during the 2000-01 Champions League group stage. Characteristically, Olympiakos comfortably defeated their opponents 2-0, thanks to a double from Giovanni, but would then go away to the Netherlands and lose 1-0. The most recent Dutch opposition that Olympiakos have been drawn to play, was over ten years ago in the 2009/10 Champions League group stage against AZ Alkmaar. After a 1-0 victory in Piraeus, thanks to a late goal from Vasilis Torosidis, Thrylos would get a respectable 0-0 draw against the Cheeseheads, and yes that is a nickname of theirs apparently.  

 

This makes the Greek champions current record against Dutch opposition a fairly encouraging one, with 4 wins 3 draw and 3 losses along after 10 games, and a -1 goal difference, scoring 7 and conceding 8.

PSV

The former European Cup and UEFA Cup winners first encountered Greek opposition in the form of AEK Athens during the Second Round of the Champions League in 1992/93. Other two legs they were first defeated away in Athens 1-0, only to come roaring back with a 4-0 victory at home. At the turn of the millennium, they faced PAOK as one of their opponents in the UEFA Cup 3rd Round in 2000/01. A 3-0 home followed by a 0-1 away win at the Toumba sent them through to the next round. 

 

The very next season they would face PAOK again at the exact same stage of the UEFA Cup. This time however, it was not a straight forward. PSV were defeated 3-2 in Thessaloniki and needed a 4-1 win to secure themselves a place in the 4th Round against the Aspromavri. Two seasons after that, back in the Champions League of 2003/04 PSV found themselves in a group with AEK Athens as one of their opponents once more. They defeated the Kitrinomavri in both fixtures 1-0 away and 2-0 at home. PSV would play Panathinaikos during the Champino League group stage of 2004/05. After a 1-0 win at the Phillips Stadion, PSV would be smashed 4-1 by PAO at the Apostolos Nikoladis Stadium.

 

After this faze of regular match ups with Greek teams, PSV would have to wait exactly ten years before facing Panathinaikos again, this time in the 2014/15 Europa League group stage. During the first tie in Eindhovan a late goal from Nikos Karelis denied PSV a win at home in a 1-1 draw. Away in Athens however, they were more fortunate, coming back from 2-1 down at half time to win 2-3. Their most recent encounter with a Greek side, as said before, came this season in the Europa League vs PAOK as they lost 4-1 in Greece and came back to win 3-2 at home. 

 

This puts PSV's record against Greek sides at 9 wins, 1 draw and 4 defeats after 14 matches and a goal difference of +8 with 26 scored and 18 conceded. 

   

Players That have played for Both Clubs 

After some research there were a few interesting names from Olympiakos recent history that have played for both Thrylos and PSV, whether they were successful during their time in Piraeus however remains to be seen.

 

Ibrahim Afellay

Probably the player on this list that had the most successful period at Thrylos thus far, Afellay made a name for himself at his home country of Holland with PSV. Eventually he joined Barcelona, but after struggling with injury and a loan spell at Schalke, the Dutch winger joined Olympiakos on a season long loan in 2014/15. He started his time in Piraeus brightly being a mainstay in the first team, however, after falling out with then manager Michel, he saw his game time more limited towards the end of the season but still picked up a domestic double with Olympiakos. After leaving Barcelona and a spell at Stoke City he made a return to his boyhood club PSV where he spent last season until his release.

 

Manuel da Costa

A controversial figure for Olympiakos supporters to say the least, the Moroccan defender played for PSV between 2006 till 2008. After a journeyman career playing in Italy, England, Russia, Portugal and Turkey he joined Thrylos in 2015. Despite him being a fairly deficient centre back, he seemed to play a fair number of games over his two season spell at the club, particularly in his first season. After winning two Greek titles in Piraeus, he returned to Turkey with Başakşehir. A detour to the middle east followed and he last played for Turkish side Trabzonspur.

 

Jagos Vukovic

Another defender, that despite his limited quality, did have his moments for better or worse, the Serbian defender played nine games in four years for PSV having been sent out on loan to Dutch side Roda. After spells back in Serbia and Turkey he joined Olympiakos, for that fateful 2017/18 campaign. After a first half season of hardly making an appearance for Thrylos he was sent out on loan to Hellas Verona. He seemed to do enough to satisfy current Manager Pedro Martins as he featured much more during the 2018/19 season. He scored a clanger of an own goal vs PAOK however, which gave their opponents the victory in Piraeus and eventually the title. After the season's completion Vukovic contract was terminated and he currently plays in China with Qingdao Huanghai F.C.

 

Bruma

The latest player to play for both clubs and the first player to be sent directly from one club to another, Pacey winger Bruma, I feel has been a tad unlucky with his time in Piraeus. After being sent to Olympiakos on loan from PSV, he has only managed 2 appearances for the club all season, with a mixture of no pre-season and sustaining a muscle injury that has kept him out up until recently. In the short period that he has played, he has shown flashes of his talent, with his burst of speed, his ability to take players on and this is the reason he was brought in by Pedro Martins in the first place. With news of his loan possibly being terminated in January, my hope is that we may keep him at least until the end of the season as he has not been given a fair run of the green to truly show what he is made of. 

Final Thoughts Early Doors 

To finish, like many Thrylos supporters upon hearing of the draw against PSV, I was relieved, not because PSV are by any means a poor side, but this is a match up Thrylos can look at and realistically hope to win over two legs. This can only be done however, if Olympiakos can jell the squad properly before then and bring in a couple of much needed additions in key areas that can strengthen the side before this clash. 

If Pedro Martins and his men believe in their own aspirations of progressing in Europe, they need to be beating sides like this, if they have any hope of achieving a dream we all share with them.

Hellas Football 

Follow @stevekountourou