Fenerbahce vs Olympiakos: Europa League Match Day 2 Preview

Fenerbahce vs Olympiakos:

Europa League Match Day 2 Preview

By Stephen Kountourou 

After a week off, it’s back to business with European competition with the second round of fixtures. Match Day 2 brings with it some very compelling looking ties that could result in more memorable and exciting nights for the supporters either staging the match at home or making the journey around the continent to watch their team play. For the Thrylos faithful, it’s a reasonably short journey over the Aegean to Turkey and Olympiakos match up against Fenerbahce. Clashes between Greek and Turkish teams are always a fiery affair and this one is being built up to be no different. 

Despite football perhaps not always being the focus in these circumstances, the players of Olympiakos and Pedro Martins should try to remove themselves from that and fully focus on football, as well as on the tough task at hand by playing one of Turkey's biggest clubs. So once again, I will be previewing Olympiakos in Europe as they travel to their first away fixture of the Europa League group stages to face Fenerbahce. It will include a quick review of both teams performances domestically last weekend, the record against clubs from both countries, finishing with an injury update and prediction. 

Performances Over the Weekend

Olympiakos

The Greek champions, after a dominant midweek 4-1 victory against Apollon Smyrnis in Piraeus, travelled to the Peloponnese to face Asteras Tripolis. It seemed as though Martins had gone back to basics in the last couple of matches with Olympiakos domestically and started his side in the 4-2-3-1 formations. 

They came up against an Asteras side that was yet to score this season with the expectation of getting the job done early and as professionally as possible in preparation for Thursday’s huge clash in Europe. Things started very brightly for Eyrtholefki as within the first ten minutes they took the lead. Masouras, who had been sorely missed before his return in midweek, once again showed his importance to the team by setting up Tiquinho for his third goal of the season and the opener to this game to make it 0-1.

Asteras thought they had grabbed an equaliser just a few minutes later after a deflection was headed into the back of Tomas Vacliks net, only the goal to be correctly ruled out for offside by VAR. With Thrylos lead restored, they began to control the game in typical fashion in reach of a second goal. Midway through the first half Aguibou Camara took a shot from the right hand side of the Asteras box which was fumbled through the legs of keeper Nikolaos Papadopoulos before ending up in the back of the net and in doing so making it 0-2 to Olympiakos. The second half was fairly uneventful with Thrylos holding their comfortable lead and controlling the game without too much pressure from a relatively poor Asteras side and the match ended 0-2 to Olympiakos, which put the champions top of the league table. 

Fenerbahce

The Turkish giants also enjoyed a successful week of football. After a disappointing defeat last Sunday at the hands of İstanbul Başakşehir, they bounced back with a Thursday night victory 2-1 over Giresonspur at home, before travelling to their most recent league match against Hatayspor. The home side dominated possession for the vast majority of the game but it would be Fener who came out victorious, with two goals in the first half from Diego Rossi and Filipe Novak. They were kept on their toes midway through the second half when Hatayspur pulled one back to make it, but the away side held on to claim a second straight 1-2 victory and keep them top of the Turkish League table. 

The Previous Record Between the Two Sides

With regards to competitive matches, Olympiakos and Fenerbahce have never played each other. The only previous encounters between the two sides came during two friendlies in 2014 and 2015. It was Thrylos that suffered losses in both of these games after the first match ended 2-1 and the second was a 3-2 loss. Despite this, both teams have matched up against sides from Greece and Turkey in the past, which is a much more accurate record to look at when building up to Match Day 2. 

Olympiakos 

The first time that the Piraeus side ever faced a Turkish side, came way back when in the 1961/63 edition of the Balkans Cup where they were drawn to play Galatasaray during the group stages. Over the two matches played Olympiakos came out with the better record, as they claimed victory in Piraeus 1-0 and a 1-1 draw away. 

As for official UEFA competition, Thrylos would have to wait until the new millennium before encountering a Turkish side. It just so happened that they would face Galatasaray once more, this time in the 2003/04 Champions League group stages. Despite a relatively poor UCL campaign, the highlight was certainly the 3-0 victory against the Turkish side in Piraeus, although the away match did result in a 1-0 defeat for Olympiakos. 

5 seasons later, once again Erythrolefki drew Galatasaray, this time in the UEFA Cup group stages. Due to the old format of this competition teams were placed into groups of 5 and would only play each other once with the top 4 qualifying for the Round of 32. Olympiakos in their one match against the Turkish side sadly lost 1-0 away. 

After another drought of no Turkish opposition, Thrylos would face two in the same season, during the UEFA Europa League knockout stages. First in the Round of 32 Olympiakos were drawn to play against Osmalispor. After the first leg in Piraeus finished all square at 0-0, the Piraeus side responded with a resounding 0-3 victory away in Turkey to take them through to the Round of 16. 

They were drawn to play a much more formidable opponent in Besiktas. Olympiakos began the first leg well, with a thundering free kick from veteran midfielder Esteban Cambiasso. The away side however was able to pull one back to make it 1-1 and leave Greece with a crucial away goal. The second leg in Turkey sadly ended in disappointment for Olympiakos, as Besiktas ran out 4-1 winners in front of their home fans and dumped Thrylos out of the Europa League 5-2 on aggregate.

The most recent matchup against a Turkish side came two seasons ago during the 2019/20 Champions League third qualifying round. There Olympiakos were drawn to play Istanbul Basaksehir. Over the two legs, Thrylos comfortably defeated their opponents both home and away, first with a 0-1 victory in Turkey and a decisive 2-0 win in Piraeus. 

This leaves Olympiakos current record against Turkish teams at 9 matches played, 4 wins, 2 draws and three defeats with 11 goals scored and 7 against leaving the goal difference at +4.

Fenerbahce  

Interestingly Fenerbahce has never played a Greek side in the UEFA Champions League. They first played against a team from Greece when they were drawn to play against Panathinaikos in the second round of the UEFA Cup in 2002/03. Fener over the two legs drew 1-1 in Turkey before being dispatched by the Prasini PAO 1-4 in Athens and being knocked out of the competition.

They would face another tougher task in the 2010/11 Europa League playoffs as they were narrowly knocked out by PAOK. First, a 1-1 draw in Turkey was followed by a 1-0 defeat in Thessaloniki at the hands of the Northern Greek side.  

The latest Greek team to face Fenerbahce came during the UEL Playoffs in 2015/16 against Athenian side Atromitos. They were finally able to find wins against Greek opposition by winning both legs 3-0 and 0-1 home and away respectively. This leaves Fener with an overall record of 2 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses against clubs from Greece with a goal difference of +0 at 7 goals for 7 goals against.

Injuries and Suspensions

At the time of writing, the only major injury concern is Yann M'Vila, who did not travel with the Olympiakos squad to Turkey. It will be a big miss for Pedro Martins in this crucial match.

Prediction 

This could be one of the toughest games of the season for the Greek champions. Not only due to the quality of individuals at Fenerbahce’s and former Olympiakos coach Vitor Pereira’s disposal, but also the intimidating atmosphere waiting for Olympiakos when they travel to Turkey. The supporters will be out for the Piraeus side's blood and they will be willing their team to win this game perhaps just as much as their derby matches against Galatasaray and Besiktas. 

On a more tactical level, Pedro Martins must approach this game with caution as their Turkish opponents will prove to be much more dangerous than Antwerp were a couple of weeks ago. Thrylos have improved over the last couple of weeks and are starting to look much more like a cohesive team. If they can keep that focus and control of their game plan that they have started to show over the last couple of Super League matches, then there is a good chance of leaving Turkey with a positive result. 

Fener will also be looking for the first win of their European campaign after their last minute penalty was saved against Frankfurt, ultimately costing them a victory. While I think Olympiakos have enough to win the game on paper, playing away in Turkey is always a tough task for any side. 

That is why I am predicting Thrylos to draw 1-1 and take a point back to Piraeus with them, which would not be a bad result at all.

Hellas Football

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