Greek Champions face early Champions League KO

By: Peter Katsiris | August 27th, 2008

I can’t believe I am saying this so early in the season, but Olympiacos could be set for a UEFA Cup run?

Olympiacos faces an early exit from the UEFA Champions League tonight (21:45 GR, NET), with only ninety minutes left for the Greek Champions to turn a 3-0 deficit against Anorthosis Famagusta into a memorable result. The Piraeus club looked helpless in the first leg; but a superior effort tonight in Greece, could see ‘O Thrylos’ wake from the nightmares from Larnaca.

Pressure lies heavily on the home side ahead of the deciding leg. Promising a better showing, Ernesto Valverde has promised his club hasn’t given up their ambitions to play an eleventh consecutive season in the Champions League. “In football you always feel under pressure to win,” said the Olympiacos manager. “It comes from within. I feel we can advance if we handle the stress. We must start the match believing we can do it and we have to channel this belief in our game.”

Media in Greece has alluded to a more aggressive formation for the Greek Champions who must beat their Cypriot opponents by at least four goals to progress to the group stage.

Antonis Nikopolidis has fully recovered from a hand injury he suffered in the first-leg loss to Anorthosis, and the former-Greece international will return to guard the Olympiacos goal. In defense, Paraskevas Antzas and Avraam Papadopoulos are expected to partner-up in the centre of defense; while Vassilis Torosidis and Leonardo, will run the right and left sides respectively.

Dudu Cearense is set for his European debut with his new club. The Brazilian is expected to play alongside Ieroklis Stoltidis in a central midfield role. Pressure has been put on Valverde to include summer acquisition Sebastian Leto in the Olympiacos starting eleven, and it appears the Spaniard will do just that. After several impressive performances in recent pre-season performances, the Argentine will face his biggest task in the red-and-white since his early-August arrival. His countryman, Luciano Galletti - a fan favourite amongst the Olympiacos faithful - will man the opposite flank.

In the need to score goals, Fernando Belluschi is expected to play an attacking role behind striker Darko Kovacevic. Both players managed to hit the score sheet in last week’s friendly against Al-Hilal, and the pair will have to repeat that feat again tonight.

It seems club captain, Predrag Djordjevic, will begin the match on the sidelines but that hasn’t stopped the Serbian from realizing the task at hand. “With the help of our fans, we can get the result that will take us into the group stage,” said Djordjevic. “We must be patient and hopefully we’ll be luckier than two weeks ago in Cyprus.”

For Anorthosis, defense will be the main focus; however, the Cypriot side has the opportunity to pre-maturely end the tie if they manage to score an away goal. Temur Kestbaia opted to rest several of his starters for the club’s Super Cup tilt with rivals APOEL. Losing the game 1-0, it is clear the club has its sights set on qualifying for the group stage for the first time in the club’s ninety-seven year history. “We may have won the first game 3-0 but we have a really tough second leg ahead,” said Ketsbaia. “Obviously our lead is healthy, but we need to work even harder if we want to get to the group stage. I want those who take the field against Olympiacos to use all their strength to achieve our ultimate dream. We’re close but the game that stands in our way is very tough.”

With Cypriot pride fuelling Anorthosis’ qualifying campaign, the return leg in Piraeus is billed as “the most important match in Cypriot football history.” On top of their comfortable lead, the visitors are joyous in the wake of reports Sávio is eligible to take part in the second leg. Making his debut in the loss to APOEL, the former Real Madrid player will make his European debut with the club. Not as fortunate is Ioannis Skopelitis; having played against Olympiacos on several occasions during his spell with Egaleo FC, the former Portsmouth midfielder is forced out of the return leg with an injury suffered a fort night ago.

The atmosphere in the stadium will be a ruckus environment, as a capacity crowd is expected to take in a match that could be Olympiacos’ last Champions League appearance of the season. Added to the fact the match has taken a patriotic twist, tonight’s encounter has transformed into a Mediterranean rivalry.

More proof of the hostility between the two clubs comes in the midst of reports claiming Olympiacos supporters delayed Anorthosis’ arrival in Greece. Olympiacos supporters followed the team’s bus, and according to witnesses “harrassed” the team bus.

More violence followed, as Olympiacos supporters reportedly attacked travelling Anorthosis fans outside the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium. The severity of the incident is in question, as Anorthosis officials seem to be exaggerating the number of Olympiacos supporters on hand at the stadium — the Cypriot club is claiming there were around 1 200 OSFP supporters, while Olympiacos says only 200 were present.

Referee: Herbert Fandel (Germany)

Assistants: Mike Pickel (Germany), Christian Dingert (Germany)

Fourth official: Helmut Fleischer (Germany)