Slovan Bratislava vs Olympiakos: Europa League Playoff 2nd Leg Preview

Slovan Bratislava vs Olympiakos:

Europa League Playoff

2nd Leg Preview

By Stephen Kountourou 

With that, the final week of European qualifiers is upon us. Sides have competed against one another over the last couple of months just for the hope of reaching and competing in a major UEFA tournament where they will do it all over again in the group stages. It has certainly been a rollercoaster of emotions for supporters of Olympiakos this qualifying campaign as covid cases, injuries, highs of progression and lows of exits have been just a few occurrences since Thrylos began playing back in July. After seeing off opponents Slovan Bratislava 3-0 in Piraeus, the Greek champions will now travel to Slovakia with one foot in the Europa League group stages to officially put the tie to bed. 

While the aggregate score is comfortable, Pedro Martins' men must treat this fixture like a level tie if they want to enter the Europa League with momentum. So for this week, I will be previewing Olympiakos final qualifier for this season, looking back at the first leg in greater detail, providing an update on injuries and suspensions while giving predictions for both the line ups and the scoreline, the latter of which I got perfect last week, finally.   

Previously in Piraeus 

After Thrylos disappointing exit from the Champions League 3rd qualifying round, a response was needed from the team and the manager to get things back on track. Pedro Martins set his side up in a more attacking 4-2-3-1 to try and control the tempo of the game more against a Slovan side who Olympiakos did not want to give any chances to. Anything other than a convincing win was necessary for the match, and that’s exactly what they delivered. 

After a bright first half, all that was missing from Thrylos' performance was a goal as halftime approached. El Arabi had squandered a golden opportunity midway through the first 45 minutes and you could feel that a breakthrough was coming. Eventually, a corner was won in the 37th minute, and after it pinged around the box, it finally found the feet of Mady Camara who leathered the ball past the keeper into the top left-hand corner to give his side a deserved lead. 

Less than ten minutes after the restart Valbuena put in a cross that found Agibou Camara whose close shot was palmed out by the Slovan goalkeeper straight to Pape Cisse who rebounded the ball into the back of the net to double Olympiakos lead. Despite the scoreline, Thrylos did not set back and hold their two goal advantage and instead pushed for a 3rd. As the game entered the last 20 minutes a corner, taken by Valbuena, brushed the top of Yann M’Vila’s head straight into the path of Slovan captain Vasil Bozhikov who headed the ball past his own keeper to make it 3-0 to Olympiakos and an own goal for the Bulgarian. 

After that Pedro Martins made a number of changes to the game almost unsalvageable for their opponent, the most notable being Henry Onyekuru making his debut for Olympiakos. Eventually, Thrylos saw out the rest of the game to take a 3-0 win and a very comfortable cushion when they travel to Slovakia for this Thursday’s tie.  

Injuries and Suspensions 

 

Not too much to speak about with injuries and suspensions. Giorgos Masouras, it has been reported on the eve of the match, will not feature on Thursday night as he has picked up an injury. Pape Cisse hobbled off towards the end of the first leg in Piraeus but at the time of writing, he should be fit to compete this Thursday in Slovakia. Ousseynou Ba will also be available for the 2nd leg after serving his one match suspension.   

 

Lineup and Prediction 

Despite Olympiakos holding a very comfortable lead over Slovan in the build up to this away tie for the Greek Champions, I do not think there will be much rotation of the first eleven from the first leg in Piraeus. Martins will undoubtedly not want to take too many risks in the game even with their aggregate score in their favour, but I do predict that we will once again see the 4-2-3-1 being deployed to officially put this tie to bed.

After a fairly comfortable game in goal on his debut, Tomas Vaclik will retain his spot. Kenny Lala after a more complete performance from the French right back will also get the nod for me over Thanasis Androutsos. Providing Pedro Martins deems Cisse fit enough to start once again, it will be the Senegalese International and Sokratis as the centre back pairing. At left back as always will be the ever present Oleg. 

The midfield duo will be the usual suspects of Mady Camara and Yann M’Vila. The number ten spot might be the toughest to call as the Portuguese coach as a couple of available options at his disposal now. Youngster Agibou Camara was very solid playing in attacking midfield in the previous fixture, but with Rony Lopez now joining on loan from Sevilla and Valbuena more than capable of playing there himself, it’s a difficult one to predict. Ultimately I do think that Martins will keep his faith in youth and give Camara another run out in the return leg, but I would not be surprised if Lopes featured in some capacity. 

With Masouras out injured I do believe that this week we will finally see Henry Onyekuru make his full debut. The other spot on the wing is currently up for grabs between Valbuena, Vrousai and Randjelovic, but I do think that with Greek international out Martins will go for experience and play the former French international. At striker, El Arabi will start unsurprisingly. 

This is still an important match for Olympiakos and Pedro Martins even with the 3-0 goal advantage. As I said at the beginning of this blog it is all about momentum and giving the team the confidence they need if they seal the Europa League group stages on Thursday night. I believe that Thrylos will want to put the 2nd leg to bed as quickly as possible to not allow an unlikely come back from Slovan. 

I think it will be a comfortable 0-2 win in Bratislava and Olympiakos will enter the Europa League.

Hellas Football 

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