Olympiacos vs Krasnodar 22/08/19

22 August 2019

Olympiacos welcome Krasnodar to the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium for the first leg of their Champions League (CL) playoffs tie in what

Olympiacos’ road to the CL group stage has started with a 4-0 aggregate triumph against Viktoria Plzen (0-0 A, 4-0 H) in the second qualifying round. The reigning Super League Greece holders have then edged past the Turkish giants Istanbul Basaksehir 3-0 on aggregate (0-1 A, 3-0 H) to secure their second appearance in the CL playoff in four years. As a result, the Red-Whites have now won more than half of their previous 16 European matches, qualifiers included (W9, D4, L3). Also, Thrylos have been successful in all four of their previous attempts to reach the group stage of European competition coming through the playoff (W3, D2, L1).

Meanwhile, the visitors travel here on a three-game winning run across all competitions – two of those wins have been accompanied by a clean sheet while two saw them score 2+ match goals too. Encouraged by a run of good for, the Black-Greens are hopeful they can reach the CL group stage for the first time in their history, as they prepare for their first-ever appearance in the CL playoff. Murad Musayev’s side outplayed the Portuguese heavyweights, Porto, in the third qualifying round, securing their place in the playoffs on an away-goal rule (0-1 H, 2-3 A). Olympiacos will be the second Greek team the Bulls are facing in Europe, with Krasnodar avoiding failure in their only visit to Greece (0-0 draw with PAOK in 2015).