Panathinaikos striker Djibril Cisse acts all tough in a post-game interview on Novasports1 as he “shuts up” Olympiacos following a 2-1 decision against the Piraeus giants. I’m not going to say much, but Cisse is taking the Super League for granted considering the environment of which he is criticizing is nowhere as bad as the quality in Italy, Spain or any other racist hotbed of football. The Frenchman’s ignorance is further demonstrated through his hypocrisy (Panathinaikos talks shit all the time) and through his decision to ignore several key facts including the pile of silverware that’s so big, inventory must be taken each week — maybe not as big as Cisse’s ego, though. Not to mention it wasn’t really his performance that allowed Panathinaikos to restore dignity in their pathetic title defense; credit where it’s due: Lazaros Christodoulopoulos.

I’m guaranteeing there will be a fair bit of trouble for Mr. Cisse when he and his Panathinaikos posse travel to the Giorgos Karaiskakis Stadium in the new year.

A recent wall post on my Facebook page, one that surely sparked fears of homosexuality amongst my peers (thanks, Chris), has prompted me to step out of the closet. No, it’s not the same closet that the likes of Gerard Pique and Zlatan Ibrahimovic might have explored, but rather the same one that you’ll find Narnia and the title hopes of Panathinaikos year-after-year.

But wait, you might suggest – for those of you keen enough to watch the Super League this past weekend – that the winning tradition at Olympiacos is reaching its end. It’s true that Olympiacos lost the Eternal Derby this past weekend: blowing a 1-0 half-time lead to ultimately fall 2-1 to their arch-rivals. But let me just clarify, that’s exactly what happened: Olympiacos lost. It wasn’t a matter of Panathinaikos winning; rather a matter of Olympiacos taking a page out of AC Milan’s historic book of how to blow a lead that, generally speaking, should be enough to win in these kind of situations. Furthermore, an indecisiveness to pursue the all-important second goal can take most of the fault for the disappointing finish at OAKA on Saturday.

Now, I’m not going to bore you with some Olympiacos propaganda; I won’t sink to that level. What I will do is note the significance of the result as nothing more than a blemish on a soon to be golden record. It’s true the season is still young, granted we’re just getting settled into November, but the relatively insignificant results in the Eternal Derby in recent years suggests that the winner of the Greek Super League won’t be dependent of points stemming from the Eternal Derby.

For example, last year’s editions were very one-sided in that Olympiacos won both matches: keeping two clean sheets, scoring some great goals and keeping Djibril Cisse off the score-sheet in his first two appearances against Olympiacos. Factor in the difference between the teams was just one point following the second defeat of Panathinaikos last winter (the situation was inverse of today’s reflection: Panathinaikos ahead by just a point after Matt Derbyshire’s winner at OAKA) and you can quite rightly see it’s not this match that matters the most in the long run.

Add to the fact that this year’s result comes courtesy of a spot-kick winner – a margin of victory that holds a double-standard in the Panathinaikos Handbook to Super League Success (Amazon, $19.08 + S&H) and you have no more than a “fluke” (as the survey has said on the notorious forums at Greeksoccer.com in the past).

After a scoreless first half, in which Olympiacos owned possession but struggled to make the most of it, the second frame was much more exciting with the game’s first goal coming ten minutes after the restart.

Dudu tallied his second goal of the tie with a driven effort from distance, but the Brazilian’s goal stood for just two minutes as Besa pegged a goal back off a brilliant set-piece strike from Dimitrije Lazarevski.

Matt Derbyshire put Olympiacos back in front with his first goal of the season, before Enzo Maresca tallied his first moments later. Olympiacos  notched a fourth through Derbyshire a little while later, but it was youngster Ioannis Fetfatzidis who stole the show as he slammed home a fifth.

Maresca then put the final touches on the contest as he side-footed a sixth past Besa’s Edvan Bakaj as Olympiacos steamrolled the Albanian minnows en route to a berth in the third qualifying round.

The win becomes Olympiacos’ largest victory in European competition as O Thrylos add to the list of five-goal victories that previously included last week’s 5-0 shellacking of Besa and a 5-0 drubbing of FC Nordsjaelland from two years ago.

The Erythrolefki now face Maccabi Tel-Aviv, who lost 2-1 to FK Mogren today but held on to emerge 3-2 winners of aggregate. The third qualifying round begins next Thursday with the first leg coming in Piraeus before the replay in Tel-Aviv a fortnight from now.

Olympiacos FC 6-1 KS Besa Kavaje

Dudu 46′, 78′; Derbyshire 53′, Maresca 75′, 90′; Fetfatzidis 89′ — Lazarevski 53′

Bookings:
Olympiacos FC — none.
KS Besa Kavaje — Aliju 33′, Poci 37′, Osmani 43′, Jakupi 45′.

Olympiacos FC (Ewald Lienen): Pardo, Holebas, Raul Bravo, Mellberg, Galtisios, Maresca, Dudu (C), Zairi (46′ Derbyshire, Mirallas, Oscar (46′ Mitroglou), Diogo (70′ Fetfatzidis).

KS Besa Kavaje (Smetim Douro): Bakaj, Aliju, Jakupi (76′ Hoxha), Lazarevski, Ferizovic, Hadzibulic, Poci (C), Dhembi (72′ Shtini), Cikalleshi (84′ Tragaj), Dos Santos, Osmani.

Referee: Lee Probert (England)

Venue: Giorgos Karaiskakis Stadium, Piraeus, Athens, Greece.

The former Liverpool left-winger arrived in Greece today as contract negotiations finally came to a desirable result for both sides. The Spaniard’s trek to Piraeus was halted, however, by thousands of Olympiacos fans who swarmed the car transporting Olympiacos’ newest acquisition from the airport to the Giorgos Karaiskakis Stadium.

After some delay, the Spaniard arrived at the club’s offices in Piraeus, completed the transfer and joined Olympiacos VIP in the stands of an empty Karaiskaki for a rather pulse-lacking second leg tie against Besa.

Riera was seen on television speaking with new team-mate Dennis Rommedahl, as well as Olympiacos technical director Darko Kovacevic. Amongst the crowd there was new Greek national team coach Fernando Santos. The Portuguese had one Greece international to watch as Vasilis Torosidis and Avraam Papadopoulos were in the VIP crowd, as was retired Olympiacos star Luciano Galletti. Even Rivaldo, who has been in Greece for the past week or so, was in the VIP section as he mingled with Olympiacos starts of the past, present, and future.

For now, however, the song on everyone’s lips is “Albertoooooo Rieraaaaaa…..”

The Mexican international was once part of an attacking trident at Olympiacos that featured Brazilian superstar Rivaldo and legendary talisman Giovanni. That trio ran riot in Greece, winning trophy after trophy, until each member slowly made their way out of Greece: Giovanni seemingly retired/moved elsewhere, Rivaldo gave Piraeus the finger and ditched, and Castillo was packaged off to Shakhtar Donetsk.

He was the hottest property from Mexico at the time of his transfer as a successful Champions League run with Olympiacos, in which he scored a bunch of goals for the then Greek Champions in Europe’s top club competition, a few of them coming against the Ukrainians themselves. His successful Copa America campaign with Mexico also added to his overall success as Castillo superstardom began to hit markets outside of Piraeus and Danubio.

Sure enough, Olympiacos were forced to sell Castillo as Shakhtar Donestk came calling with a mammoth offer then club president Sokratis Kokkalis couldn’t refuse. So the club shipped Castillo to Donetsk, and it was like a high-profile divorce had stolen headlines. Castillo looking all awkward in Shakhtar’s orange, Olympiacos looking relatively incomplete with Lomana Lua Lua and Leonel Nunez doing a horrible job filling in for Castillo.

Still it seemed Olympiacos were better off as Castillo told the Greek press on numerous occasion, including during a mid-season trip to Greece to face Olympiacos in a club friendly, that he hated life in Ukraine and that he and his wife wanted to return to Greece.

Olympiacos looked to pounce on this opportunity and on almost every occasion since then the club has tried to acquire Castillo on a loan deal of some sort as Castillo’s loan stints at Manchester City and Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk have gone just as sour for the Mexican.

A player once scouted by Sir Alex Ferguson and invited to join Manchester United’s academy at the age of 16, it was Olympiacos who managed to make Castillo’s dream come true as the Uruguayan-born El Tri international was denied a work permit in England.

On the verge of becoming a Greece international, it seems Castillo’s choice to not join the Greek ranks (in which he would have easily become a star and improved Greece’s lagging attack) cost him dearly as it was reported that Valencia had retracted their offer for Nintendo after he had opted to play for Mexico.

Of course the Chicago Fire aren’t the worst of team in the football world, but Castillo deserves much more. As a citizen of the Greater Toronto Area in Ontario, Canada I’m just disappointed I won’t be able to see Castillo play for certain this season (the Fire already  played local side Toronto FC on the lakeshore this season). It’s something that I’ll have to wait for next year, or perhaps until this season’s play-offs. For Castillo’s sake, I hope he does succeed in Chicago but I would love for him to return to Greece with Olympiacos.

Even though Karaiskaki will be empty as fans settle to catch the first glimpse of their beloved team playing in Greece from their TV sets at home, Olympiacos should represent Greece well; even if support is lacking from the vocal group GATE 7.

Last week’s result was no mistake by any means, Olympiacos dominated the encounter and convincingly ran out 5-0 winners against inferior competition. In a game that features the tag line “Impossible is Nothing”, Olympiacos will be keen on staying focused, a sentiment echoed by manager Ewald Lienen last week in Tirana.

The German has done the unthinkable, however, as Olympiacos’ roster for the second leg has been released with Matt Derbyshire included in the list despite being rumoured to be leaving Piraeus this summer. The Englishman was suspended for the first leg after being red carded in the round of 16 loss to Bordeaux last season, as was center-back Olf Mellberg who also returns to the line-up on Thursday.

The Swede’s return is expected to be the only change for Ewald Lienen as the former Aston Villa center-back has been tipped to replace Francois Modesto in Olympiacos’ back-line. Mellberg will likely work in defense with Raul Bravo as Greece internationals Avraam Papadopoulos and Vasilis Torosidis continue their extended holidays following their World Cup campaign with the Greek national team.

Considering the aggregate score, the second leg is nothing more than formalities for both sides and Olympiacos should make the use of the occasion with another chance to build team chemistry.

Olympiacos (Ewald Lienen): Nikopolidis, Pardo, Galitsios, Holebas, Mellberg, Modesto, Dudu, Oscar, G. Papadopoulos, Maresca, Zairi, Epstein, Fetfatzidis, Mitroglou, Diogo, Derbyshire, Mirallas.

Relatively untested, Olympiacos never looked back as a lion’s share of possession translated into goals, goals, and more goals. Dudu and Kevin Mirallas played an active part in creating chances, the former marking his return to the first team after a nagging injury sidelined the Brazilian for close to six months last season.

Mirallas, one of seven summer signings thus far, certainly dazzled down the left flank as he showed plenty of skill through his nimble footwork and sharp passing abilities. Meanwhile, Jose Holebas, the left-back for the evening, showed consistency in defense as well as an eye for goal as the former striker turned left-back spent most of his time in the attacking third.

Defensive partner Francois Modesto, who played alongside Raul Bravo in the heart of defense following Holebas’ inclusion, didn’t have much to do, but certainly wishes he did better off a corner kick that could have earned the Frenchman his first goal for the Greek side on his debut.

Youngster Ioannis Fetfatzidis also made an appearance when he replaced Jaouad Zairi just past the hour mark. The 19-year-old showed great agility as he sprinted down the left flank numerous times and on all but one occasion managed to round his markers and play a decent ball inside the Besa box.

Meanwhile Giorgos Katsikogiannis, who returned from a year-long loan at OFI Crete, played just over five minutes, but made little impact as he replaced Dudu before the clock ran out at the Qemal Stafa Stadium.

As for Olympiacos’ regulars, Diogo showed some great finishing abilities, while Oscar was in the right place at the right time for both his goals, but he did tuck them away neatly. Zairi did not dazzle but gave a performance good enough to trouble his markers. He didn’t have much time on the ball and therefore attacking defenders like he loves to do on the right flank was not a possibility on this night.

In defense, Olympiacos were obviously not bothered much but Raul Baravo certainly made the most of his opportunity to play center-back, while Giorgos Galitsios was the set-up man for Diogo’s first goal of the night. The Greek defender contributed to the rush with some sort of fade-away cross while being tackled. A bored defense means Antonis Nikopolidis was not too busy on this night, although the first sign of action could have foreshadowed a long evening for the former Greece international. A high boot from Marko Dos Santos nearly clipped the 39-year-old veteran.

As for the coach himself, Lienen did the right thing in subbing off Oscar and allowing him to get some applause, even though the crowd was more like a small gathering. Meanwhile, the German tactician certainly has the vocal chords, his constant yelling could be heard even when Olympiacos were at the opposite end of the field. Zairi was one of the most yelled names by the former 1860 Munich manager.

Speaking after the game, Lienen mentioned that the win was very important for his players and he was satisfied with the result as his players gave their best despite being miles ahead before the hour mark in Tirana.

The win all but assures Olympiacos of progression ahead of Friday’s draw for the third qualifying. The port city side will enter the draw as one of the top seeds in the tournament and should expect another minnow opponent should they progress to the next round.

The second leg takes place at the Giorgos Karaiskakis Stadium on 22 July, with the port city side serving a suspension, which forces Lienen’s men to play behind closed doors. Enzo Maresca certainly shutdown Besa’s attack, but his free-kicks will need to improve, his effort in the second half would have been a great opportunity to score had it cleared the wall first.

KS Besa Kavaje 0-5 Olympiacos FC
Oscar 19’, 31’, Dudu 47’, Diogo 70’, 83’

KS Besa Kavaje (Shpetim Duro): Shehi, Aliju, Osmani (81’ Shtini), Ferizovic, Poci, Cikaleshi (65’ Hadzibulic) Dos Santos, Dhembi, Jakupi, Mihani (70’ Hoxha), Lazarevski.

Olympiacos FC (Ewald Lienen): Nikopolidis (C), Galitsios, Modesto, Raul Bravo, Holebas, Maresca, Dudu (84’ Katsikogiannis), Zairi (75’ Fetfatzidis), Mirallas, Oscar (66’ Mitroglou), Diogo.

Referee: David Fernandez Borbalan (Spain)

Venue: Qemal Stafa, Tirana, Albania

The new season is upon us as Olympiacos tackle Albanian side KS Besa Kavaje in the UEFA Europa League this evening. The first leg is set for Kavaje and kick-off is just a little while away. The Greek giants go into this game with many firsts on hand as a summer of change in Piraeus will show its worth tonight.

Aside from the match marking the first match between both clubs, Olympiacos are marking their first match in the Europa League following UEFA’s decision to rename the tournament ahead of last year’s campaign.

Although it’s not a mouth-watering tie, and few are at this stage of the competition, both matches are of cultural importance considering the rather tense relations between Greece and Albania.

I’ll be sure to provide updates at the final whistle.

Pame Thryle!

Assuring this never happens again, the club has rung in the changes from the boardroom down as a new owner, new manager, and new players have been brought in to return the club to its winning ways next season.

New Owner

This was confirmed about a month ago, but with the World Cup taking focus, it was sort of secondary news for most Greek sites. Nevertheless, I can report that Olympiacos have a new majority owner in Vaggelis Marinakis. The 42-year-old is a native of Piraeus and is currently the CEO of a major shipping company in the port city. His association with Olympiacos has been well documented after a strenuous selling period by Sokratis Kokkalis, the man Marinakis bought out to acquire 67% of the club.

Since taking over the team, Marinaikos has promised several big-name signings, but more on that in a minute.

New Manager

Incidentally, the appointment of Ewald Lienen as manager of the club happened before the swap of club shares. The German coach was brought in as the club’s fourth manager in the past twelve months, and Olympiacos fans are optimistic he’ll last longer than Temuri Ketsbaia, Zico, and Bozidar Bandovic.

Lienen spent the last two seasons in 2. German Bundesliga coaching 1860 Munich, but has coaching experience in Greece having managed Panionios in the past. He achieved notable success with the Nea Smyrni club, helping the Athenian club qualify for the Super League play-offs on two occasions. His last season with the club, however, was disastrous as the club’s sale of Rafik Djebbour to AEK Athens and lack of a replacement for the Algerian cost the team dearly. A slow start to the season, mixed in with a conflict with Lambros Choutos, Panionios top-striker at that time, cost Lienen his job, and then his successor (former Olympiacos manager) Takis Lemonis, too.

With Olympiacos, Lienen is expected to win the Super League title this season as well as steer the club to a deep run in the UEFA Europa League; a campaign which begins July 15 against KS Besa Kavaje in Albania.

New Players

There have been several transfers in Piraeus to make note of, and I will be talking about these in more detail later in the week, but for starters here’s a look at Olympiacos’ activity in the summer transfer window:

IN:

Balazs Megyeri (Ferencvaros, Hungary)
Jose Holebas (1860 Munich, Germany)
Ariel Ibagaza (Villarreal, Spain)
Dennis Rommedahl (Ajax, Netherlands)
Francois Modesto (AS Monaco, France)
Kevin Mirallas (loan from AS Saint-Etienne, France)
Giorgos Katsikogiannis (loan return from OFI Crete, Greece)

Also of note, the following three players have been promoted to the senior team, and are eligible to play for the senior squad and reserves this season:

Konstantinos Rougalas (Olympiacos U-21)
Vanderson (Olympiacos U-21)
Giorgos Valerianos (Olympiacos U-21)

OUT:

Luciano Galletti (retired)
Leonardo (loan to Sport Club Internacional, Brazil)
Cristian Raul Ledesma (Colon, Argentina)
Didier Domi (released)
Kyriakos Papadopoulos (Schalke, Germany)
Pavel Kovac (released)
Leonidas Panagopoulos (Panionios, Greece)
Lomana LuaLua (Omonia Nicosia, Cyprus)
Ieroklis Stoltidis (Kerkyra, Greece)
Michal Zewlakow (Ankaragucu, Turkey)

Ben Arfa was seen as the top candidate to fill the void left on the left side of the midfield, but little or no response from Marseille has foiled the move for both parties.

It was said that Marseille were keen on selling Ben Arfa after the player had a bust-up with manager Didier Deschamps earlier in the season. In fact, reports in France still state Ben Arfa is on his way out of the Stade Velodrome this winter, while Marseille looks to acquire Inter Milan flop Amantino Mancini. Whatever the speculation is, one thing is for certain: Ben Arfa isn’t destined for Piraeus this January.

Now that the soap-opera, which lasted the better part of three weeks, is over other names have started filtering through the airwavesof the port city. The Greek press (as early as Tuesday morning) reported the club is interested in signing Liverpool’s Yossi Benayoun, Blackburn’s Morten Gamst Pedersen, or Ajax’s Miralem Sulejmani. Whether any of these players actually make the trek to Piraeus is a mystery on its own.