AEK and Olympiacos ready to lock horns again

By: Peter Katsiris | October 3rd, 2008

Olympiacos welcome rivals AEK Athens to the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium on Sunday, as the former takes part in its first domestic derby of the season. After splitting the season series last year, Olympiacos will be keen to erase the loss suffered last year at OAKA. AEK, meanwhile, will look to avenge the domestic title they so narrowly lost to Olympiacos last term.

As usual, Olympiacos finds itself atop the Greek Super League but breathing room is limited thanks to Thessaloniki’s PAOK sitting level on points. Despite the early season success found in Piraeus, Sunday’s mouth watering encounter will be nothing like the Greek Champions have seen this season, thus far. Last weekend Olympiacos gave an uninspired performance in Crete against OFI. They ended the poor performances this week against FC Nordsjaelland with a 5-0 thrashing at home to their Danish guests. Even with several regulars, who face a race to fitness ahead of the derby, on the bench Olympiacos gave a thorough performance resulting in a thrashing of the visitors.

The team’s manager, Ernesto Valverde, has experienced many ‘new’ experiences thus far this season. Despite reaching the UEFA Cup Finals with Catalan side RCD Espanyol, Valverde seemed to be somewhat blindfolded during the opening weeks of the new season. A wakeup call was served through Anorthosis Famagusta shock progression past Olympiacos in the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League. The shock affected all levels of the club, as supporters began to question the Spaniard’s tactics. However the team has pulled through since the defeat and an undefeated start to the Greek Super League have began to slowly erase the horrendous memories from Larnaca.
Olympiacos supporters will be hoping their usual stars will be ready for another episode of this rivalry.

Luciano Galletti missed the side’s midweek match, but stood proud on the sidelines. Ieroklis Stoltidis, a defensive rock for ‘O Thrylos’ has missed the last two matches and his absence has been noticeable. Dudu, a usual partner of Stoltidis in the midfield, Dudu picked up an injury in the stalemate with OFI and also missed out on the club’s second leg match on Thursday. In defense, Dudu’s countryman Leonardo continues to fight a nagging injury that kept him out of OFI match and the deciding leg against Nordsjaelland.

It is expected that Galletti and Dudu will recover in time for the derby, while Stoltidis remains questionable. Leonardo, meanwhile, will miss the match.
On a positive note, Predrag Djordjevic finally returned to action after several weeks of absence. The legendary Olympiacos captain came on as a substitute against Nordsjaelland, but could start against AEK on Sunday.

Despite the club’s quick recovery, Valverde – nor Olympiacos – can afford another breakdown. AEK too experienced a European nightmare with AC Omonia knocking out the ‘Enosi’ from the qualifying stages of the UEFA Cup. With the Greek Super League and the domestic cup the only tasks on the Athenian agenda, AEK have slowly improved since the defeat to Omonia.

Giorgos Donis, and his rather unique tactics, has begun the healing process for AEK and its supporters; domestic results have not been the best indication for a side posing a threat to the Greek crown. The ‘Dikefale’ opened their season emphatically, arguably controversially, against fellow OAKA tenants and rivals Panathinaikos. An Ismael Blanco penalty separated the capital rivals.

Another firm test awaited AEK in Thessaloniki, where a draw with a revitalized PAOK was all that could be mustered. Spirits were lifted with a narrow 1-0 win over Iraklis the following weekend; however, just last weekend AEK took a bit of a tumble in the Greek rankings as another draw, this time with Panionios, was the only escape for AEK.

Consistency has plagued AEK over the years, but the threat still lingers with the club. Several new faces compose the AEK roster, but many will be familiar to Olympiacos. Angelos Basinas and Sotirios Kyrgiakos, two members of the Greek National Team, were once rumoured to head to Piraeus. However, an eventual rumour and then reality of a relationship with AEK cancelled a move to Limani.

The two Greek internationals won’t be the only worries for Olympiacos, as last season’s leading scorer Ismael Blanco is always a threat around goal. Partnered by Ignacio Scocco, the pair will only be stopped if the Olympiacos backline are at their best. In the midfield, Pantelis Kafes returns to Limani.
The player who spent a short-term with the ‘Eruthroleuki’ notched AEK’s late equaliser against Panionios, and his shooting abilities make him a threat to score again. The AEK backline is relatively new, with club faces such as Traianos Dellas and Sokratis Papastathopoulos no longer with the club. In goal, Jurgen Macho faces another tough night in the office as the Olympiacos attack continues to perform.

With both teams having both offensive defensive abilities, it seems that this set of Greek giants are too close to be separated; leaving room for a twelfth man, the crowd at Karaiskaki, to decide the match.