Olympiacos Preview

By: Corey | November 5th, 2007

I previewed the two teams a week or two ago, so im gonna keep this brief. Here are the players traveling to Greece:

SQUAD LIST:
Goalkeepers: Casillas and Codina
Defenders: Sergio Ramos, Marcelo, Heinze, Pepe, Cannavaro, and Torres
Midfielders: Gago, Drenthe, Balboa, Sneijder, Robinho, and Diarra
Forwards: Soldado, Saviola, Baptista, Van Nistelrooy, and Raúl.

MEDICAL REPORT:
Arjen Robben: Grade II hamstring tear. Medical treatment and physiotherapy. Gym and field work.
Gonzalo Higuaín: Strained right quadriceps. Training with the team.
José María Gutierrez, “Guti”: Strained right hamstring. Medical treatment and physiotherapy. Gym and field work.
Jurek Dudek: Back pain. Medical treatment and physiotherapy

Metzelder and Salgado did not travel. Metzelder probably to get a rest, Salgado probably because he was balls the last time the two teams met. Here is some more useless info:

With barely enough time to unpack from the trip to Seville, Real Madrid are on their way to Athens, where tomorrow they face Olympiacos in Matchday 4 of the Champions League.

The players called up by Schuster took off from Madrid at 14:00 and will land in Athens at about 18:40.

Real Madrid President Ramón Calderón will meet with the Greek Fan Club and the ‘Vicente del Bosque’ Fan Club starting at 20:00, one hour prior to sitting down to dinner with the Directors of both Clubs.

The team will stay at the Marriot Hotel until tomorrow’s match at Karaiskaki Stadium. Manager Bernd Schuster and a player will hold a press conference tonight at 20:15 in the hotel.

Theres also some incredibly useless stats for you:

Real Madrid-Olympiacos clashes have become quite a tradition in European competition. Real Madrid and Olympiacos have met on seven previous occasions, and only once have the Greeks walked away as winners, but the Whites had already qualified for the next round.

Real Madrid played their first match in Athens in 1997/98. Jupp Heynckes’s men returned to Spain with a 0-0 draw in tow, but they would go on to win the Club’s Seventh European Cup.

The two sides met in Greece two years later and played a 3-3 draw. Iker Casillas made his European Cup debut, as Savio, Roberto Carlos, and Raúl netted the three goals en route to the Club’s Eighth European Cup in Paris.

The last season the two sides squared off was in 2005/06, when the home team won 2-1 on both occasions. It was the Whites’ first and only defeat on Greek soil.

The last time Real went to Greece, Capello sent the juniors. De La Red, Adrian Gonzalez, Bueno, Balboa etc. all playerd, and they only lost 2-1. So technically we have never lost in Greece. Technically.

Olympiakos

As far as Olympiakos squad, if you know Greek then you can find it on one of their sports websites. But I doubt many of you know Greek so here you go. They are missing the suspended Vassilis Torosidis and injured duo Cristián Raúl Ledesma and Paraskevas Antzas. Other then that its the same squad that came to Spain. Expect Zewlakow to fill in for Antzas. Ledesma may play, who knows. Galleti and Djorjdevic will be the only danger men in the midfield, but somehow they looked dangerous a man down at the Bernabeu.

Olympiakos is undefeated at home this year. They have always had a strong support from flair waiving fans and the stadium looks like a red cauldron. Expect 5 across the midfield again, a rather defensive lineup that will counter attack quickly. Kovacevic may start in place of Lua Lua, but probably not. Olympiakos won 2 of their last 3, drawing the other, so they arent lacking form.

Real will win this one 2-0, goals from Raul and Robinho. Now theres some brave predictions for you. Adios.