Olympiacos welcome Apollon Limassol to the Karaiskakis Stadium for the second leg of their Europa League qualifying playoff-round clash on Thursday.
Following a 1-1 draw in the first leg, both sides are still very much alive in this contest and will be up for the challenge as they look to get one over each other with the finish line just 90 minutes away.
Match preview
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Olympiacos got their 2022-23 Super League campaign off to a flyer as they picked up a comfortable 2-0 victory over PAS Giannina when the sides met on Sunday.
Following an uneventful first half, the game sparked into life in the 57th minute when Mathieu Valbuena broke the deadlock before Lazar Randelovic made sure of the result with a 74th-minute strike.
Olympiacos now turn their attention to the Europa League qualifiers where they held on for a 1-1 draw away to Apollon Limassol in the first leg of their playoff-round clash last Thursday.
In a cagey affair at Tsirion Athlitiko Kentro, Rangelo Janga and 25-year-old midfielder In-Beom Hwang scored for either side in the first half as they gave everything before settling for a share of spoils.
Prior to that, the Greek side were dumped out of the race for a place in the Champions League courtesy of a 4-2 aggregate loss to Maccabi Haifa before needing penalties to brush aside Slovan Bratislava in their Europa League third qualifying round clash.
Olympiacos, who are unbeaten in their three Europa League qualifying games so far, head into the midweek clash on a run of one win from their last five competitive home games, losing twice and claiming two draws in that time.
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On the other hand, while Apollon Limassol will be looking to pick up an aggregate victory on Thursday and secure European football, they will need to find a way around their recent struggles on enemy territory.
David Catala's men have lost each of their last three away games across all competitions, while managing just one win from their last 10 since picking up consecutive victories on the road in February.
Prior to last week's first-leg draw, Apollon Limassol were on a two-game winning streak, a run which saw them clinch the Cyprus Super Cup title courtesy of a comfortable 2-0 victory over Omonia Nicosia on August 13.
While they will look to return to winning ways and secure their spot in the Europa League group stages, standing in their way in an Olympiacos side who are unbeaten in their last four games in all competitions, claiming three wins and one draw since July's 4-0 loss to Maccabi Haifa.
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Team News
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Olympiacos will take to the pitch without the services of Arsenal defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos, who has been sidelined through a muscle issue.
He is joined on the club's injury table by 31-year-old forward Garry Rodrigues, who came off injured in the game against Slovan Bratislava on August 4.
Former Fulham striker Aboubakar Kamara is set to sit out his sixth consecutive game through injury, while newly signed Croatian defender Sime Vrsaljko sustained a thigh injury in July's game against Maccabi Haifa back in July.
As far as Apollon Limassol are concerned, Catala will be unable to call upon the services of Ilian Iliev after the 22-year-old midfielder picked up a metatarsal fracture back in April.
French forward Bagaliy Dabo, who netted nine league goals last season, was missing from the matchday squad in last week's first leg and the 34-year-old remains out of contention for the Cypriot outfit.
Olympiacos possible starting lineup:
Vaclik; Pipa, Ba, Cisse, Reabciuk; M'Vila, Kunde; Randelovic, Hwang, Zinckernagel; El Arabi
Apollon Limassol possible starting lineup:
Jovanovic; Cabral, Peybernes, Roberge, Khammas; Va, Kyriakou, Coll, Pittas; Janga, Pita
We say: Olympiacos 2-1 Apollon Limassol (Olympiacos to win 3-2 on aggregate)
Off the back of last week's draw, there is still all to play for and we expect both teams to take the game to each other in search of a place in the European competition. Olympiacos are slight favourites, given their home advantage and Apollon's poor away form, and we predict they will do just enough to come away with the victory.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joshua Ojele
