Hellas Football

Neftchi Baku vs Olympiakos:   Champions League 2nd Qualifying Return Leg Preview By Stephen Kountourou  With the first half of this tie done and dusted in Piraeus, both clubs can now look ahead to the return leg in Azerbaijan and its capital Baku. For supporters of Olympiakos in particular it was not quite the performance they were expecting as Thrylos, despite claiming a 1-0 victory, seemed to struggle in certain areas of the pitch throughout the game. Supporters returning to the Karaiskakis for the first time in over a year was a huge boost for everyone involved with the Thrylos faithful acting as the 12th man from kick-off to full time just like they did before the outbreak of Covid19.  But with a slim advantage going into the away trip to Neftchi’s home turf, injuries, covid cases and suspensions throughout the team, can Olympiakos get the job done and qualify for the next round on the UEFA Champions League and take another step towards the promised land of the group stages? This w

The Third Qualifying Round Draw For All 3 Of The UEFA Club Competitions Has Just Occurred. What Does That Mean For The 4 Greek Teams Involved? By Alexander Koutakos The first of the three draws was the UEFA Champions League 3rd qualifying round draw. In this draw, Olympiacos was drawn with the winners of the Mura (SVN) and Ludogorets (BUL) match-up. But, first they must get past Neftci (AZE) in the 2nd qualifying round, which is the likely outcome in my opinion. Both Mura and Ludogorets are the champions of their domestic leagues and have been very impressive for their standards recently. However, they both lack European experience both as a club and on a player to player basis in comparison to the boys from Piraeus. The 3rd qualifying should be pretty straightforward for Olympiacos and I think that they will comfortably advance to the play-offs no matter the opponent.  The second draw of the day was the UEFA Europa League 3rd qualifying round draw. In this draw, the loser of the Olymp

Olympiakos vs Neftchi Baku:   Second Qualifying Round 1st Leg Preview By Stephen Kountourou  After a month of international football, it’s no rest for the wicked as the European football season for some clubs is already underway. Teams who have had their pre-season this early on and are now competing to qualify for major continental competitions and reach the group stages of their respective tournaments.  Greek champions Olympiakos is one such side that has a much earlier start to their campaign than most, as they enter the second qualifying round of the Champions League and draw Azerbaijani champions Neftchi Baku. While Thrylos are the favourites for this tie, nothing in football is guaranteed as both sides set up to face one another in Piraeus for the first leg.  So this week I will be doing my first preview of the season, taking a brief look back at how Erythrolefki qualified for the Champions League second qualifiers, who their opponents are and how they reached the same stage. I w

The Spanish Speaking Revolution at Asteras By Alexander Koutakos Asteras' roster has gotten to a point where Spanish speaking players make up 20 of the 35 players on the roster in accordance with Transfermarkt.  Many of these players are crucial for Asteras, however I believe the club has gone overboard with the so-called "Spanish Speaking Revolution".  There are many benefits of having the players from the Spanish speaking countries, yet if we are to progress as a club, I think we need to look in rather than look out. Asteras’ academy is one of the strongest in all of Greece and in the past decade we have produced many talented players including: Kourbelis, Bakasetas, Douvikas, Kyriakopoulos, Tzimas and many others. All of these players have been sold and many of them have been sold too early due to foreign arrivals or not being able to get playing time.  For example, Douvikas and Tzimas both left in-part due to the fact that Barrales played as the sole striker for the p

Panathinaikos Summer Preparation Hopes 2021 By Antonios Theodosis   With the international tournaments now over, club football hype is officially back on, and in recent days we have seen transfer news picking up momentum, summer preparations getting more coverage, and friendly games being played.   For Panathinaikos fans, we are in a very familiar position here in the summer. Fresh off of the sacking of a previous coach, the new one, Ivan Jovanovic is already here and doing his work, and we are being linked with new players with a couple of new faces already signed and wearing the green jersey.   After a less than stellar season last year, expectations amongst Panathinaikos fans are varied. Some are optimistic, a larger portion feel the opposite, while the rest have essentially become indifferent and resigned themselves to leaving fate up to the football gods.   Personally, I find myself stuck between the optimistic crowd and the crowd leaving it all up to the football gods. It seems t