Olympiakos vs Slovan Bratislava: Europa League Playoffs 1st leg Preview

Olympiakos vs Slovan Bratislava:

Europa League Playoffs

1st leg Preview 

By Stephen Kountourou 

It certainly was not a memorable week of European football for supporters of Greek champions Olympiakos. After going ahead before halftime, capitulating in the first ten minutes of the 2nd half, equalising and then going down to ten men, Thrlyos then went the distance to penalties. It was clear before the spot kicks that the team had already mentally lost the game and it showed in their penalty taking as they were knocked out of the Champions League third qualifying round for the first time since 2016/17 by Ludogorets. 

While the financial loss to the club for failing to reach the group stages of Europe’s elite competition, the possibilities of a good run in continental competition is still there. They are one playoff round away from the Europa League group stages, and if that objective is not met there is also the Europa Conference league that Olympiakos has already qualified for. The team standing in Thrylos way is an opponent that they have encountered in the past, Slovakian side Slovan Bratislava. 

While this seems on the surface a straightforward tie for Erythrolefki, sometimes it’s never that simple even against a weaker opponent on paper for Olympiakos. So for this week, I will be previewing Thrylos entrance into the Europa League playoffs, taking a look at Slovan's European campaign so far, the competitive record between the two sides, before injuries, suspensions and prediction at the end.      

Slovan’s European Campaign So Far

Upon claiming the Fortuna Liga title, Slovan Bratislava qualified for the first round of the Champions League qualifiers and was drawn to play Irish side Shamrock Rovers. Despite a comfortable 2-0 victory at home, Slovan found themselves pegged back to level terms in the tie during the second leg away in Ireland, as Rovers went 2-0 up. Luckily a goal in the last 15 minutes sealed the tie for Slovan, and it was the former Cup Winners Cup victors that went through to the next round. 

The Slovakian Champions faced a much greater challenge in the second round of qualifying, as they were drawn to play Swiss Champions Young Boys. Even after a respectable 0-0 draw in Slovakia, they were undone in the second leg, narrowly lost 3-2 in Switzerland and exited the Champions League to the Europa League 3rd qualifiers. 

Fortune favoured Slovan in this round as they drew Gibraltar side Lincoln Red Imps. After a comfortable 1-3 victory away and a 1-1 draw in Bratislava, Slovan reached the Europa League Playoffs where they were drawn to play Olympiakos. 

The Competitive Record Between the Two Sides 

Olympiakos

As I entailed previously Olympiakos and Slovan Bratislava have played each other in the past. Before that encounter, however, Olympiakos first played against a team from Slovakia way back in 1961/62 in Thrylos second ever campaign in European competition against Dynamo Zilina. At the time Dynamo was competing as a Czechoslovakian team, but as they now play in the Slovakian first division, it counts. Olympiakos were defeated in both matches, first 2-3 in Piraeus followed by a 1-0 loss on the road to exit the competition early. 

Erythrolefki would not play a Slovakian side again until 2009/10, which coincidentally is the last time they drew Slovan Bratislava in the Champions League 3rd qualifying round. Both legs ended 2-0 in favour of Olympiakos and the side from Piraeus reached the Champions League playoffs 4-0 on aggregate.

Thrylos' record against Slovakian opposition stands at 2 wins, no draws and 2 losses after 4 matches, with 6 goals scored and against 4. Crucially Olympiakos has a 100% record against Slovan in particular.   

Slovan Bratislava

Slovan also competed against Greek opposition prior and post they last played against Olympiakos. Panathinaikos were the first side from Greece that Slovan first played during round two of the 1970/71 European Cup. After a 2-1 victory over the Prasini in Bratislava, PAO came back and won in Athens 3-0, knocking out Slovan on route to eventually reaching the final of the competition. 

After playing Olympiakos in the aforementioned 2009/10 campaign, the Slovakian side encountered PAOK during the 2019/20 Europa League playoffs. The then Greek champions were beaten away in Bratislava 1-0 and despite coming back to win 3-2 in Thessaloniki Slovan went through to the group stages on away goals.

This means that after 6 matches played against Greek sides, Slovan’s record stands at 2 wins, no draws and 4 losses, with a goal difference of 5 scored and 10 conceded. 

  

Injuries and Suspensions 

Some positive news regarding Olympiakos returnee Tiquinho Soares who is back to full training. However, the Brazilian striker will be unavailable until Thrylos reach either the Europa League or Conference League group stages due to a three match suspension.

Ousseynou Ba is also suspended for one match after being sent off in the previous match against Ludogortes.

On another note, Ruben Semedo will also be unavailable from this tie as he was not chosen to partake in the European squad pending a possible departure from the club.   

Prediction 

To give a brief prediction first for the starting xi for Olympiakos in Piraeus, it has been rumoured this last week that Pedro Martins will play his side in the 4-3-3. Although on a side note if new loan signing Rony Lopes is ready to compete by Thursday, there is also the tiny possibility of seeing the 4-2-3-1. 

It has also been reported that the Portuguese coach will finally give Czech international goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik his debut between the sticks over Kostas Tzolakis. With Semedo and Cisse linked with moves away from the club, and Ba suspended, the most likely centre back pairing for me in this match will be Sokratis and Markovic, an untested pairing but a strong one at that. In the right back position it’s a toss up as to whether Martins will want the more attack minded Thanasis and Androutsos or the defensively astute Kenny Lala, and I believe he will choose the latter. At left back there have been talks of Apostolopoulos maybe given an unlikely start, but I think Martins will always play the more reliable option in Oleg. 

The midfield three will be the three amigos of Mady Camara, Andreas Bouchalakis and Yann M’Vila. On both, the left wing Giorgios Marouras will retain his place and most excitingly we could see the debut of Henry Onyekuru on the right hand side. Upfront will undoubtedly be Yussef El Arabi unless Martins would prefer not to have his side convert chances, in which case he will play Hassan.

This is a side that will boast a much higher quality team and players on paper, still cannot be underestimated. With Champions League football gone, qualifying for the Europa League is integral for this campaign, not only for the revenue it brings but also the possibility to be competitive in a continental tournament, something supporters are crying out for. 

The team must go into this first leg in front of the Piraeus faithful with the intention to end this tie, before the return leg in Bratislava. This would not only take the pressure off before travelling away from home but it would give the squad a huge boost of momentum going into the new season. Despite Slovan already starting their domestic campaign, I believe that Olympiakos are looking to prove a point after last week's disappointing exit from the Champions League, and the first leg in Piraeus will end 3-0 to Thrylos.  

Hellas Football 

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