FC Barcelona vs Olympiakos: UEFA Champions League Matchday three preview
FC Barcelona vs Olympiakos:
UEFA Champions League Matchday three preview
By Stephen Kountourou
Two matches into this season's UEFA Champions League campaign, and Olympiakos do not have a huge amount to show for it. Maybe that is a harsh starting line of this preview, but that is my personal opinion. Not to say that the players have performed badly or that Jose Luis Mendilibar hasn’t set up his team correctly, or to not go out and win.
But it already feels, now that Thrylos are on the verge of facing one of the biggest hitters on the European stage, where it will be hard to get a result, that there has been a real missed opportunity to accrue more points than they have to push for a place in the playoffs.
The biggest blow was, of course, the opening game when ten men Pafos FC starved Olympiakos of opportunities to go ahead, leaving the Greek champions to only take a point against an opponent they had to beat.
Arsenal was more excusable, as the Gunners boasted the strongest iteration of their team that Olympiakos have ever faced. But even at the Emirates Stadium, Thrylos’s slow start and early mistake to give the hosts the lead really set them back during a match that they fought valiantly to return level in, but ultimately failed to do so against the Premier League side.
No matter which way you look at it, Olympiakos only have one point from two games, which is less than fans of the Piraeus side would have hoped before having to play Spanish giants Barcelona, who they must face away in Catalonia.
Can the players and Mendilibar, upon returning to his native country of Spain, hope to take an unlikely result from the Catalans, or will it be another night where they come away with little to show for their efforts?
Last time in the UCL
Olympiakos travelled to North London, where they faced a very familiar foe on the European stage, that being Arsenal, where they lost 2-0. As said before, although the performance of the Greek champions was admirable, the sheer might of the Premier League side, who boasted a squad ten times the value of theirs, meant that it was always going to be an uphill battle.
What did not help was a rather passive start to the match from Thrylos, who struggled to contain the hosts' early pressure. This culminated in the first goal, which was a huge error from the Piraeus side's backline and led to Gabriel Martinelli comfortably slotting in the opener to make it 1-0.
As the match in the Emirates Stadium progressed, Olympiakos grew into the game more, particularly in the second half. The biggest chance came from Ayoub El Kaabi, who thought he had equalised via a header, only for the goal to be ruled out for offside.
If it had not also been for the players lacking an accurate final ball at times to feed their teammates in the opposition half, they could have created more opportunities than they did. The hammer blow came in the final minutes, when substitute Bakayo Saka scored as Arsenal ran out 2-0 winners, while also ending the long-standing even record between the two sides.
The Blaugrana, after defeating Newcastle United at St James Park on matchday one, hosted defending European champions PSG at the Estadio Olímpico Lluís Companys. Barca initially took an early 1-0 lead after Marcus Rashford found Ferran Torres in the box to score the opener.
Just before the half-hour mark, however, PSG equalised, after a defensive mistake from the hosts, which put young forward Senny Mayulu clear through on goal and struck the ball past Wojciech Szczęsny.
After the restart, both sides had ample chances to take the lead and the victory, but it was the Champions League holders who prevailed. The Parisians took advantage of Barcelona’s high defensive line with Achraf Hakimi's low but accurate cross finding Gonzalo Ramos to make it 1-2 and seal the win, with Hansi Flick’s men suffering their first defeat in Europe this season.
League results
Thrylos returned from the international break needing a victory after the defeat to PAOK in Toumba a couple of weeks ago. Against newly promoted AEL in Larissa, they ran out comfortable 0-2 winners to keep the pressure on their rivals in and amongst them.
Literally a minute after kick off, Olympiakos had scored from some nice interplay by Daniel Podence and Francisco Ortega, with the Argentine left back’s low cross finding Ayoub El Kaabi for the Moroccan to cleverly slot home past the keeper.
The away side continued to dominate throughout the first half, despite a penalty to AEL being correctly ruled out by VAR. Just before half-time, VAR intervened again, this time on the part of the Greek champions, and identified a handball in the box to give a penalty to the away side. El Kaabi stepped up and coolly scored to get his brace and make it 0-2.
The restart brought much the same as before, with Olympiakos generally in control of the game, although a second penalty was correctly denied to AEL for a dive. Mendibilar’s men saw out the win in the AEL Arena with the focus firmly on the Champions League and the trip to Spain.
Barcelona also claimed a 2-1 win over Girona this weekend. The Blaugrana came into this match having lost their last two in all competitions, with the former being the defeat to PSG in Europe and the latter being a 4-1 defeat to Sevilla in the league.
Against a Girona side who are struggling for form this season, Barca struck first with Pedri scoring the opener via a low shot which made its way through all the players in the box and into the net to give his side the 1-0 lead. A mere seven minutes later, the side that is also from Catalonia equalised through a spectacular overhead kick by Axel Witsel.
In a surprisingly end-to-end contest where both sides had chances to take the lead, it would be the hosts who would ultimately seal the victory late on. After the referee sent off manager Hansi Flick, Frankie De Jong found Ronald Araujo, who scored in added time to give Barcelona a narrow win.
Competitive record
The numbers aren’t a pretty sight when looking at Olympiakos’s record with Spanish clubs. In 32 competitive matches, they have never won on the road in Spain before. The last time Thrylos played the current LaLiga champions was back in 2017/18.
Away at the Nou Camp, the Piraeus side lost 3-1 with only a consolation goal that was scored by former player and academy graduate, Dimitris Nikolaou. While the home fixture in the old group stage format is less relevant, Thrylos did manage to earn a 0-0 draw in Karaiskaki, something that supporters would presumably be satisfied with this coming week.
Interview with Panos Kostopoulos
I spoke to Greek sports journalist Panos Kostopoulos, who writes for MARCA in English.
Barcelona have a rather large injury list with key players out. How do you feel this will impact how Hansi Flick approaches this game, especially with El Clásico being the next league fixture?
“To offer some context, Barcelona are heading into this game on the back of two straight defeats, this being just the second time they suffer back-to-back losses under Flick. In fact, Flick hasn't seen his side go winless for more than two games in a row. Both defeats have been painful due to the way they came, especially the one at Sevilla - which should be used as a blueprint for Olympiacos, as it was a game where Barcelona dominated the ball, but their opponents looked dangerous on the counter.”
“As far as the injuries are concerned, Barcelona do have a deep squad featuring numerous academy graduates who would love to make their case by standing out against Olympiacos in order to earn the opportunity to feature in a derby (probably the most-watched league football fixture in the world).”
“It's true that the loss to PSG could force Flick to field the best possible XI in his bid to finish the game against Olympiacos off early, but it's also true that finishing in the League Phase top-eight doesn't guarantee success (as PSG demonstrated last season).”
“Barcelona mostly need this win in order to boost their morale ahead of the derby, which will surely be in the back of their mind on Tuesday. The game taking place at 18:45 could also benefit Olympiacos due to the limited appeal it might have to the fans.”
What has been the rhetoric surrounding Jose Luis Mendilibar in Spain since he joined Olympiakos in 2024, and now that he is returning to Spain to play Barcelona?
“Mendilibar is a loved figure in Spain. He was some kind of a character when he coached in LALIGA, especially during his time at Eibar, and everybody respects him. Sevilla's ownership has been repeatedly slammed for the way they treated him that led to parting ways with Mendilibar a few months after he won the Europa League.”
“In fact, no one is surprised that he led Olympiacos to Conference League success and they've been following his trajectory with articles popping up every now and then about his connection with the club or players that he helped thrive. Taking into account that Atlético de Madrid is the only team he's faced more times than Barcelona in his career as a coach, they are aware that they will take on someone who knows the Catalans inside and out.”
With Barca currently not playing in the Nou Camp, has that impacted their home form since renovations began, and could this perhaps help Olympiakos’s chances of an unlikely result?
“They did play a couple of games at the Johan Cruyf earlier this season, but they've returned to Montjuïc (Estadio Olímpico Lluís Companys), which is where they faced PSG before the break. Last term, the atmosphere at Montjuïc was unexpectedly good, taking into account that, like OAKA, fans are not that close to the pitch anymore.”
“Of course, it also helped that Barcelona played entertaining football. However, there's been a rift between fans and Laporta after he banned some supporters' groups (the ones who would initiate chanting during the games) last season. Loud away fans can be properly heard and there is a sense that the atmosphere has lost last year's spark. This could definitely benefit Olympiacos.”
Determining success in a seemly impossible situation
What would be seen as a success in the match? While it is perhaps a pessimistic view, I feel comfortable in saying the vast majority of Olympiakos supporters don’t “expect” anything from this fixture. That is not a slight on the players or the manager, but even at Olympiakos’s very best, it may still not be enough.
Even with Barcelona’s injury list, they still boast an extremely strong team that can hurt the very best on the European stage. Jose Luis Mendilibar knows this and will tell his players to play the way they have always done against any opponent.
The Basque coach was critical of his players despite the win against AEL because he knows perhaps better than anyone what it will take to get a result against the Spanish champions. He will want them to play to their very best, without flaps in focus or work rate and with a bit of luck in football, anything is possible.
If the players can show something similar to the second-half performance against Arsenal, even if that yields no points again, most supporters, even the ones online, will be satisfied.
But with the missed opportunity to get three points against Pafos FC still burning in the back of many fans' minds, the next game against PSV is non-negotiable. Perform well now in Catalonia, and take the same mentality back to Karaiskaki for matchday four and win.
@SteveKountourou
Hellas Football
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