26 September 2017
JUVE AIM TO PICK UP THE PACE
Juventus will be looking to get win number one in this season's UEFA Champions League when they host Olympiacos at the Allianz Stadium for their first home match in the competition.
The Bianconeri have been in stunning form domestically, winning all of their games and will hope that they can take this impressive form into Europe.
In contrast, Olympiacos have had a stop-start season thus far, winning two matches, whilst drawing twice and losing once. Their most recent exploits saw them drop a 2-0 lead over rivals AEK Athens to lose the game 3-2. The result leaves them in fourth place in the standings, and five points behind leaders AEK.
On Matchday One, Olympiacos lost to Sporting Lisbon 3-2 at home, having gone three goals down inside the first-half. A late rally from the team saw them pull two goals back in the 89th and 93rd minutes, but it wasn’t enough for them to avoid defeat.
OPPOSITION FOCUS: OLYMPIACOS
Olympiacos replaced their manager on Monday with former favourite, Takis Lemonis, who will begin his fourth spell at the club against Juventus.
The Greeks' key-man is undoubtedly their number 10, Marko Marin. The 28-year-old midfielder first burst onto the scene 10 years ago with Borussia Monchengladbach, and quickly built a promising reputation for himself. However, after drifting between homes with spells at Chelsea, Sevilla and Fiorentina, the playmaker seems to have finally settled at Olympiacos.
Other names that may be memorable to Bianconeri fans, are that of captain, Alberto Botia, who scored against Juve three years ago. In addition, Croatian, Hrvoje Milic spent last season at Fiorentina, whilst seasoned midfielder, Panagiotis Tachtsidis played in Italy for the last seven years of his career, representing no less than eight clubs, including Roma, Torino and Genoa.
Possibly the most famous player to have pulled on both the black and white and red and white stripes is striker, Darko Kovacevic. The Serbian netted a respectable 26 goals in 71 games for the Bianconeri between 1999-2001. Kovacevic was the club’s top scorer in their 1999-2000 UEFA Cup campaign, and away from Europe he notably bagged a brace in a 2-1 win away at Serie A rivals, Inter Milan.
PREVIOUS HOME ENCOUNTERS
The last time Juventus and Olympiacos clashed at the Allianz it proved to be a very dramatic affair, as the Bianconeri needed a win to stay in the hunt for last 16 qualification. At one point, the Old Lady were even heading out of the competition as the visitors took a shock 2-1 lead.
However, Juventus were able to turn things around shortly after going behind, with two goals in a minute via an own-goal and an effort from Paul Pogba to win the game 3-2.
Prior to their dramatic encounter in 2014/15, the last time the teams met in Turin turned out to be Juventus’ highest scoring game in the Champions League to date. La Vecchia Signora ran out 7-0 winners in 2003, in the final group-stage match of that campaign, the goal scorers that night were David Trezeguet x 2, Fabrizio Miccoli, Enzo Maresca, Marco Di Vaio, Alessandro Del Piero and Marcelo Zalayeta.
#JUVEOLY MATCH STATS
- Juventus are unbeaten at home in the last 19 Champions League home games and 23 matches in all UEFA competitions.
- The Bianconeri’s overall record against Olympiacos in the Champions League stands at six wins, two draws and two defeats.
- 21 goals in total have been scored against Olympiacos, whilst the Greeks have registered nine.
- This is Olympiacos’ 18th UEFA Champions League group-stage campaign.
- The Piraeus club had to navigate the third qualifying round and the play-off round to reach the group stage, overcoming FK Partizan and HNK Rijeka respectively.
- Olympiacos have won three out of their last four European away games.
