Porto vs Olympiakos, Champions League Matchday 2 Preview

Porto vs Olympiakos, Champions League Matchday 2 Preview 

By Stephen Kountourou

After an eventful Match Day 1 of the Champions League group stage, there is much excitement and anticipation, from fans, for the next round of fixtures in Europe's elite competition. This can certainly be said for Olympiakos supporters. 

After another memorable European night in Piraeus with a late 1-0 victory over Marseille, despite the absence of fans, Thrylos have started their campaign in the best possible way. All eyes, including my own, are now on the upcoming clash with their second opponents, Portuguese champions FC Porto. 

The Erythrolefki will be travelling to the Estádio do Dragão in Porto for their first Champions League group stage away fixture of the season, which will take place on Tuesday at 8:00PM BST.

This will be an equally important affair, not only for the chance of obtaining a second Olympiakos win, but also with a number of Portuguese native players in the Greek champions squad, including manager Pedro Martins, to all uphold the reputations they have built by returning home, in an all conquering Greek side, to face Portugal's very best. 

So with all the hype surrounding this game, I too shall be jumping on the bandwagon in this blog, by talking about in greater detail as to what happened previously in Match Day 1 on the Champions League for both sides, Porto's most recent domestic result, team news at the time of writing and then my finishing thoughts and predictions on how this match could go. 

Last Time, in the Champions League…

Olympiakos 

Thrylos went into last Wednesday's Champions League Group C opener, under quietly confident but also difficult circumstances. Despite a late blow for Pedro Martins and his side, after Mady Camara tested positive for COVID19, it was unclear as to whether the Portuguese tactician would stick to his trusty 4-3-3 format that Olympiakos had come accustomed to using in Europe. As it transpired he put his faith in their more domestic set up, the 4-2-3-1. 

After a slow but focused start in the first half it was hard to split either Olympiakos and Marseille, as both sides shared a fairly even number in both possession and shots by half time. As the 2nd half took shape however Olympiakos began to dominate the game, hardly giving the French side any space on the pitch, and you could feel as though a goal would come if Thrylos continued with this momentum.

 

They were eventually rewarded, or so they thought, with an opening goal in the 53rd minute. After a low cross from the right hand side by Randjelovic, Masouras scored from close range. But as Marseille were about to kick off the referee disallowed the goal after Masouras was found to be in an offside position by VAR in the build up to the goal. a close call but ultimately the correct one. 

Normally after big decisions like that, teams heads would have slumped and all their momentum would have gone. But this was not the case for Olympiakos, who picked up well from where they left off and continued to the bitter end without settling for a draw against a Marseille who seemed to be flagging slightly. 

 

With six minutes of regular time to go, Martins continued his fantastic game management this season by introducing Hassan to the fray. Despite all the mixed thoughts on the Egyptian striker, and yes even I have spoken previously about his limits, there's no denying that he scores goals when called upon, and he did just that. 

Valbuena in the 91st minute, who had already shown class is ageless against his former club, crossed a fantastic ball into the box which found the head of Hassan, who put the ball passed Steve Mandanda to give his side the 1-0 win and taking huge 3 points to their next fixture against Porto.  

 

FC Porto 

For Olympiakos upcoming opponents, their first fixture back in Europe's biggest stage went rather differently. The Dragons had a rather tough test against a Manchester City side who, despite some rather mixed results domestically up to this point, were still a force to be reckoned with. 

Porto started the brighter of the two sides however, taking the lead early in the 14th minute thanks to Columbian winger Luis Diaz. The lead, as it transpired, would be short lived as six minutes later, City were awarded a penalty which Sergio Aguero slotted the equaliser home. 

After the break, it was all City from that point, with Porto struggling to get back into the game. Five minutes past the hour mark, City would take the lead through Ilkay Gundogan, before substitute Ferran Torres added a third to give the Premier League side a comprehensive 3-1 victory. 

For the Dragons, this makes their home tie with Olympiakos all the more important if they have any hope of asserting themselves as the second place side in Group C. 

What Happened over the Weekend?

To quickly summaries on Olympiakos, their clash with rivals PAOK this past weekend, was postponed, supposedly to help both sides rest for their upcoming Champions League and Europa League matches. 

A rare decision made by the EPO that I fully support. Why that was not extended to AEK, who also compete in the Europa League this season, but had a match this weekend in the league vs PAS Giannina, I am unsure.

 

Porto, on the other hand, did have a match this weekend in Liga Nos as they played out a 1-0 over mid table side Gil Vicente. Despite the away side creating a number of decent chances against superior opposition, Evanilson was the goal scorer late in the first half for the Dragons. 

After the break Porto had a chance to go 2-0 up after they were given a penalty just before the hour mark. Mateus Uribe stepped up for his side but sadly missed from the spot. Former Olympiakos target Zaidu Sanusi sent off in the 74th minute but despite this, the champions held on for the victory and are currently second in the table behind league leaders Benfica. 

Team News for Both Sides

Olympiakos

At the time of writing, almost all players for Olympiakos are fully fit for the trip to Portugal. The exceptions are, industrious midfielder Mady Camara, who is still out with COVID19, Ousseynou Ba and Hillal Soudani did not travel with the team to Portugal. Pape Abou Cisse is expected to start in Tuesday night's fixture. 

 

FC Porto

Manager Sérgio Conceição's men have a number of absentees from the squad going into match day 2. Senegalese 23 year old goalkeeper, Mouhamed Mbaye and former Olympiakos loan player and Spanish defender Ivan Marcano are both out with cruciate ligament injuries. Attacking midfielder Otavio is also out with a muscle injury, as is goal scorer in the previous game Luis Diaz who is a doubt with a muscle injury.

Outro and Predictions 

To finish, I think that this game is going to, once again, be a tough one for Thrylos. Porto are no pushovers, despite the defeat against Manchester City, and the former Champions League winners will be up for the game and will consider themselves the favourites for the win. 

Key players for me include, veteran defender and former Real Madrid player Pepe, will be a menace to Thrylos forwards at the heat of their defence. Midfielder Sergio Olivera, who was on loan at PAOK during their title winning campaign, will have experience playing against Greek opposition. 

Pedro Martins, as said before, will have a point to prove, just like the rest of the Portuguese players returning to their country, the 4-2-3-1 formation I think has once again become a more dynamic and flexible possibility in Europe and one that, I think, should be used again after how well it worked against Marseille. 

Camara was a loss in the first game, but to add to the fact the Ba, who was one of the key players in Olympiakos victory in Piraeus will be unavailable also, it means that both Semedo and Cisse will both have to step up big in this game if they want to give their team the same defensive solidarity that they had last week. 

Despite these key absentees from the squad, I am still quietly confident that Thrylos can get a result away in Portugal. 

My prediction: Porto 1-1 Olympiakos.  

Hellas Football 

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