This is historically a pretty tough away fixture for the 'Red & Whites' from Pireaus as they have lost a handful of matches here at Charilaou in recent years. Now coming from a 9000+ km trip back and forth to Almaty (Kazakhstan) where they deservedly won 1-0 vs Kairat on Tuesday evening.
So far so good for Olympiacos in the league, good form winning 7 of the last 7 matches and top of the league. Aris have had a fairly tough season so far, currently 8th in the table but they are good at home and they have a pretty good record at home to Olympiacos and backed up by their passionate fans I can see a more rested home-side causing a possibly slight fatiqued favorite some problems. Aris lost the away fixture 2-1 back in early November, but that was one of the best performances of the season from Aris, if not the best.
When Olympiacos have played in Europe they haven't really performed amazing in the league the match efter. For example. Drew Pafos 0-0, just barely managed to get a draw vs PAO in the derby few days later (1-1 92nd equalizer) Lost to Arsenal 2-0 just to lose 2-1 to PAOK 4 days later. Couple of more examples where they've not been at their best after a UCL match (Kifisia & Panetolikos)
German ref here, Jablonski and he has not been a popular figure in the 3 matches he's refereed Olympiacos in the last few seasons. This will be a proper physical battle, are Olympiacos ready for it from the off? I think Aris (despite a few missings) will continue to cause Olympiacos problems here, not sure they can hold on for 90 mins but can they head into HT in the lead? Tough catch as usual but lets see .. Interesting fact, 9 (!) out of the last 17 between these two (home & away) has ended 2-1 either side.
Both Spanish coaches with a few missings, probable line-ups.
Aris (M. Jimenez): Athanasiadis, Fantiga, Alvaro, Rose, Frydek, Montsou, Galanopoulos, Jensen, Perez, Morucan, Moron
Olympiacos (J. Mendilibar): Tzolakis, Costinia, Kalogeropoulos, Pirola, Ortega, Esse, Garcia, Martins, Cicinio, Podence, El Kaabi
Olympiacos coach Mendilibar:
"- it is the only place in Greece that we have not managed to win. It is the fourth time that we will go there, he thinks, and we hope that it will be the winner. This of course shows that this is a very good opponent, a very strong team, that even if we manage to win, we will have a hard time. It is certain that the game will be difficult for us.”
Best,
Boggen