Olympiakos vs Atalanta UEL Second Leg Preview

Olympiakos vs Atalanta UEL Second Leg Preview 

By Stephen Kountourou

A moment of madness or lapse in concentration can change a game of football on its head. In the case of Olympiakos' visit to Bergamo to face Atalanta, it was two. Despite being in a winning position at halftime Thrylos conceded in the same way against the same player twice to lose on the road in the Europa League. There is however still a glimmer of hope for the Greek champions. Despite the away goal ruling no longer being active in UEFA competition, Tiquniho’s goal in the first half has left Pedro Martins's team with a chance to overturn the tie in Piraeus this coming Thursday. But can they do the seemingly unlikely again?

Post Match 

Thrylos lined up in the 3-4-3 against the Serie A side in Bergamo and for the majority of the match, Martin's tactics worked to an extent. Olympiakos were able to soak up much of the Atalanta pressure and were able to break quickly from defence to a more attacking shape when in possession. Within the first half an hour, the game script was going Erythrolefki’s way. 

Tiquinho from outside of the box curled in a wonder strike that gave his side the surprise 0-1 lead. Atalanta, after going a goal down, started to find some momentum and bossed the possession as Olympiakos in turn attempted to soak up the pressure. One of the biggest problems on Thrylos' part, which has haunted the team at times in Europe, is taking their chances to put a game to bed. Henry Onyekuru, after a great run into the box, spilt his shot wide of the post without even threatening the opposing keeper and failing to double Olympiakos lead. After a late equaliser was ruled out for offside, halftime came with the away side narrowly ahead. 

The second half began with changes made by the home side. Confidence grew in Atalanta and their chances became more clear cut although Olympiakos defence was able to deal with it thanks to Manolas, Cisse and Sokratis in the back three. Just past the hour mark all of Thrylos' hard work was completely undone. A corner from Atalanta found the head of defender Berat Djimstit to give Atalanta the equaliser. 

Minutes later the same player on a second corner for the Italian side, found the back of the net to put the home team in front. Olympiakos failed to create a lot of note after that with the biggest chance to equalise coming from Agibou Camara who failed to take a shot when one on one with the keeper. The first leg ended 2-1 disappointingly for Thrylos who let the match slip from two almost identical errors but with the hope of a comeback in the second leg. 

Weekend Result 

Olympiakos 

Both teams have had rather polarising results over the weekend in their respective leagues. Thrylos after that disappointing performance continued on the road to play midtable Volos. A side capable of causing problems for Olympiakos at the best of times, the dogged Greek champions, with a few squad rotations, went out to try and find a positive result. The biggest chance of the first half came after Agibou Camara’s shot hit the frame of the goal before Masouras attempted a shot from the rebound and missed the open goal.

The Piraeus side continued to search for an opener with a couple attempted from the home side well saved by Vaclik at the other end. Eventually, substitutes made by the Professor's changes paid off. As the match entered the last ten minutes of normal time, El Arabi in the box passed the ball back to an oncoming Mathieu Valbuena whose strike found its target and gave Olympiakos supporters a deep sigh of relief of finally breaking the deadlock. The champions saw out the last minutes of the match to take a tough fought 1-0 win away, and with PAOK dropping points in the derby vs Aris, their lead extends at the top of the table to 11 points.

Atalanta

The Bergamo side also travelled away during the weekend Serie A match which was hosted by Fiorentina. Despite having a couple of golden opportunities to go ahead in the game and be on course to winning their first Serie A match since early January, they were unable to convert their chances. Minutes before the hour mark, Atalanta were dealt a hammer blow thanks to Krzysztof Piatek for Fiorentina who took his attempt well and put his side in front. It would end up being the winner and Atalanta remain winless in 5 Serie A matches.  

Team news 

The only team news of note is that Gary Rodrigues has returned from the injury he sustained a few weeks ago. But it remains to be seen to what capacity he will feature in Thursday’s must win clash. 

Prediction

Just to reiterate what I said early on, this is simply another must win situation for Olympiakos. It feels as though Thrylos always get themselves into tough situations in which a tie needs to be overturned in the second leg or a last minute goal is needed to progress through in Europe. This is not just exclusive to the Martins era of the club but something that has plagued the Piraeus side in Europe for a while and it is something that needs to change eventually. 

While some outside of Greece has given a bit more credit to Olympiakos recently as a consistently decent side continentally, as well as the Karaiskakis being a tough place for travelling teams. However, Thrylos will not be taken truly seriously as a European club until they learn to see out ties in the knockout stages more comfortably and find a way of formulating a run. Focusing more on this upcoming game, this tie is far from over for Thrylos. 

They still have a chance to rectify the mistakes of the first leg in Bergamo and with a 50% capacity crowd in Piraeus, they will need to act as the 12th man as they have done on other European nights. I will be more optimistic about Thrylos chances and I will say they overturn the tie classic Olympiakos style with a 2-0 and head to the Round of 16 for the third season in a row.   

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