Manchester City v Olympiakos – The Opposition

Manchester City entertain Greek side Olympiakos, looking for a third straight Champions League victory that will keep them in pole position for last sixteen qualification.

The blues have won both games so far, beating Porto and Marseille, while their opponents beat Marseille 1-0 in the opening match before losing 2-0 to Porto. This will be the first meeting between the two sides, but the visitors don’t seem to like playing English sides. Manchester United eliminated them at the last 16 round in 2014, while Wolves knocked them out of the Europa League last season.

Olympiakos are the current Greek Super League champions, but last season’s win was their first title since 2017. Before that, they won the title for seven consecutive years and have been crowned champions on 45 occasions. Last season was also a double year as they claimed the Greek Cup, which was their 18^th double, and have won the trophy on 28 occasions. Needless to say the club are the most successful in Greek history.

The club have played 144 games in the Champions League and while their home form is good, their away record isn’t. They have only ever won seven away games in the main competition, losing forty five and drawing just nine.

The visitors have scored 50 goals away from home and conceded 133, which is very different to their league form. Currently, Olympiakos sit second in the Greek Super League, three points behind Aris but with a game in hand.

They are the league’s top scorers with 12 goals so far and also have the meanest defence – just the one goal conceded this season during a 1-1 draw at PAS Giannina. Their biggest win of the season was a 4-0 win at home to Atromitos, while their lowest win was 2-0 on two occasions.

Although they went through their league campaign unbeaten, Olympiakos finished third at the group stage. Their first point came at home to Spurs when they drew 2-2, while the final round of matches saw the Greek side’s only win when they beat Red Star Belgrade 1-0 at home. In total, the team scored eight goals and conceded 14.

Moroccan striker Youssef El-Arabi is currently the top scorer with six goals in total, followed by Egyptian forward Ahmed Hassan with four, including one apiece in this years Champions League group matches.