Olympiacos-Fenerbahçe is a match valid for the first leg of the Conference League quarterfinals and is played Thursday at 6:45 p.m.: live TV, probable formations, predictions.
The one completed by Olympiacos in the previous round against the Israelis of Maccabi Haifa is a comeback destined to remain in the history of this young competition. After losing the first leg 4-1 in front of their own home crowd, the red and white went on to win with a resounding 6-1 on the neutral field in Backa Topola, Serbia, even sweeping into extra time (it had ended 4-1 at the end of the 90 minutes).
A feat that allowed the Hellenes to land in the top eight of the Conference League and challenge the Turkish Fenerbahçe: the winner will then face one of Aston Villa or Lille. Olympiacos, revitalized by Spanish coach Jose Luis Mendilibar – the man who last year led Sevilla to the seventh Europa League in its history – is also in the running to win the domestic title, and their two victories with Aris and Lamia – in which Thrylos scored eight goals in total – have revived their ambitions, although they remain four points behind first-place PAOK.
Fenerbahçe, on the other hand, was the talk of the week because of its forfeit in the Turkish Super Cup to Galatasaray.
The Yellow and Blue, in protest to the Turkish Football Federation after the events in Trabzon – players from the Istanbul club had been attacked at the end of the match – sent the Under-19 team onto the field, withdrawing the team after just a handful of seconds from the whistle. In the league they are always -2 behind Galatasaray – they have been winning continuously since February – but they have their sights set on the Conference League. And this is proven by the fact that in the round of 16 they eliminated a very good team like Union Saint-Gilloise (0-3 in Belgium and 0-1 in Turkey).
The prediction
Olympiacos called to raise the level against an opponent that has been winning in the league for six days and was also rested this past weekend. Playing in a hot stadium like the “Karaiskakis” is never a walk in the park but in our opinion Fenerbahçe has what it takes to at least avoid defeat.
The probable lineups of Olympiacos-Fenerbahçe
OLYMPIACOS (4-2-3-1): Paschalakis; Rodinei, Retsos, Abbey, Richards; Hezze, Iborra; Podence, Horta, Gelson Martins; El Kaabi.
FENERBAHCE (4-2-3-1): Livakovic; Osayi, Djiku, Aziz, Oosterwolde; Yuksek, Krunic; Under, Szymanski, Tadic; Batshuayi.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 1-1
