Olympiakos vs Frankfurt: Europa League Match Day 4 Preview

Olympiakos vs Frankfurt: 

Europa League Match Day 4 Preview

Time for Revenge?

By Stephen Kountourou 

It’s return leg time for all clubs competing in Europe. This is now crunch time for many teams, who will be hosting the opponents they previously travelled on the road to on Match Day 3, and there are a couple of groups that could more or less be decided by the time the final whistle blows to end Match Day 4. Many eyes from Greece will particularly be focusing on the two Super League representatives in both the UEL and UECL respectively as both Olympiakos and PAOK fight to take control of their destiny at the top of their groups. 

The Greek Champions themselves host Frankfurt in Piraeus, with the hope of righting the wrongs of the away trip to Germany. Unlike the previous encounter, Thrylos needed to show much more than they did previously against the Bundesliga side, after being very much the second best team on the night in a dower 3-1 defeat. A victory for Olympiakos would return them to the top of Group D and firmly back on track to qualify for the Round of 16. A loss would almost certainly put them out of contention for the top spot, with the resignation of trying to secure 2nd place over Fenerbahce and Antwerp and a former Champions League opponent waiting for them in the playoff tie. So for this week, it’s another preview from yours truly, in the build up to Pedro Martins' men hosting the Bundesliga side in front of the Thrylos faithful. 

Both Sides Domestic Performance 

Olympiakos 

The Greek champions were able to rally together after the disappointment of that night in Frankfurt and the North vs South Derby against PAOK, came away with a close 2-1 victory in front of an empty Karaiskakis Stadium. After a week's break Thrylos travelled to play against lowly Panetolikos to maintain their status as league leaders. With the likes of Rony Lopes, Ba and Tiquinho all given the runout, Olympiakos started the match slowly away in Agrinio. After warming into the first ten minutes Thrylos won a corner which, after being well taken from Lopes, found the head of Tiquniho who powered it past the keeper to put his side 0-1 ahead. Even after taking the lead, the away side failed to build on that and was caught on the counterattack a few minutes later. With the left side of defence completely open, former Olympiakos player Nikos Vergos outwitted both Sokratis and Ba to slot the ball cleverly past Vaclik to bring Panetolikos level. 

During the early part of the second half, Martins made a triple change of Androutsos, Valbuena and El Arabi and reverted to a 4-4-2 in an attempt to take back the lead. Thrylos continued to frustrate despite having the lion share of possession and shots, it felt as though their final third attacks were poorer than the rest of the team's general play. With just over 20 minutes to go, Valbuena was brought down after the keeper made a very rash challenge on the french veteran, and after confirming with VAR the referee awarded a penalty. El Arabi stepped up and put the ball coolly past the keeper to restore his side’s lead. Panetolikos hardly threatened for the rest of the match and Olympiakos saw out the victory on the road despite a very mixed performance and staying top of the league table. 

Frankfurt

The Eagles had a very different run of form after their victory against Olympiakos a couple of weeks ago. Frankfurt travelled last weekend to play Bochum in the Bundesliga and surprisingly went down 2-0 against the newly promoted side in a deeply disappointing display considering the performance in Europe only a few days before. Their most recent opponent came on Saturday in the form of RB Leipzig. The first half for the hosts started poorly, with Leipzig very much on the front foot. After a couple of close chances, the travelling side found the opener through a corner that Yussef Poulsen got a touch on to make it 0-1 and put Frankfurt behind. 

The match continued in the second half as it had in the first as before as Leipzig searched to double their lead and Frankfurt struggled to defend against wave after wave of attack, if not for the brilliance of goalkeeper Kevin Trapp. After Forsberg missed a sitter, Frankfurt made them pay for their missed chances in injury time as Tuta headed the ball home from a corner to give his side the draw and the match finished 1-1.

Injuries and Suspensions 

A couple of key absentees in the build-up to this game for Olympiakos. Firstly, Svetozar Markovic, who has been out since mid-October with a Muscle injury but was unlikely to feature anyway. The bigger of the two injuries is Andreas Bouchalakis who in the last week has been suffering from adductor problems and it is up in the air currently on whether he will compete in this match. The only suspension, but a big one at that, is Oleg Reabciuk who accumulated too many yellow cards over the first half of the Europa League group stages and will also miss Match Day 4.

Prediction 

After the poor display from Olympiakos a couple of weeks ago, this return tie in Piraeus is vital. The pressure is on the squad and Marins to rectify what happened in Frankfurt and take back control of the group as well as Thrylos own European destiny. Frankfurt has proven over the last couple of weeks, as well as the poor start to their domestic season, that they are very much a beatable side and if Olympiakos have any hope of finishing first in Group D, the objective must be to win against the visiting Bundesliga side. For my prediction I am going to hope that Martins learns from what happened two weeks ago, he plays a different formation to the 4-3-3 and in front of a packed out Karaiskakis crowd, Thrylos will get their revenge and win 2-1.

Hellas Football 

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