Olympiacos vs Ferencvaros

Olympiacos and Ferencvaros are set to lock horns at the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium in the first leg of their Europa Conference League knockout playoff round.

Olympiacos failed to progress from their Europa League group, finishing third behind West Ham and Freiburg after losing half of their group fixtures (W2, D1, L2). Victories over West Ham (2-1) and TSC Backa Topola (5-2) on this ground can inspire confidence around the Greek camp, as should a 4-0 demolition of OFI Crete in the lead-up to this encounter. New manager Jose Luis Mendilibar, who guided Sevilla to Europa League glory last term, can’t take anything for granted, given Olympiacos patchy four-match form on home turf (W2, D1, L1 – 90mins only). Moreover, their only previous two-legged tie against Hungarian opposition yielded a 5-3 aggregate loss to none other than Ferencvaros in the 1996/97 UEFA Cup.

In the meantime, Ferencvaros enjoyed an unbeaten Europa Conference League group stage campaign (W2, D4). But there’s no room for complacency as they bid to improve their decent all-time record against Greek opposition (W4, D2, L2). However, their recent visits to the country have gone terribly wrong, with the ‘Green Eagles’ losing their last two European away games against Greek clubs by 3+ goals ‘to nil.’ On a positive note, they’ve started the new calendar year on the front foot, winning all three league matches despite conceding in each to maintain a slight edge over Paks in a fiercely-contested title battle. Additionally, they’ve never lost a Europa Conference League match on the road (W4, D2).