Olympiacos on a mission to avoid any Swiss surprises

Boasting a commanding 4:0 lead from the maiden match, Olympiacos are preparing to play FC Luzern in Switzerland for the return leg of the UEFA Europa League third qualifying round. AGONAsport previews the game.

Watch LIVE from AGONAsport: Luzern - Olympiacos, UEFA Europa League Qualifier on Thursday, August 16th. Details here.

Aiming to make a statement after a dreadful 2017/2018 season, Olympiacos were superb in the first leg against Luzern at the Karaiskakis Stadium, knocking four past the Swiss with Lazaros Christodoulopoulos and Miguel Angel Guerrero both scoring twice. In truth, the Thrylos were rarely troubled in front of their home fans, as Luzern didn’t force goalkeeper Andreas Gianniotis into any notable saves.

On the face of it, the Piraeus outfit are already guaranteed to advance to the Europa League playoffs to play either Istanbul Basaksehir or Burnley, but the Greeks must be careful to dodge any kind of shock result in Switzerland. With their backs up against the wall, Luzern have to improve from their performance in Greece and head coach Rene Weiler is eager to see some determination from his struggling squad.

Luzern have endured a dire start to the 2018/2019 Swiss Super League, winning the one match against Lugano 4:2 while losing to Xamax 0:2, FC Thun 1:2 and most recently Young Boys 2:3 on Sunday. After four rounds, Luzern languish second from bottom in the standings.

TEAM NEWS: LUZERN

In Piraeus, Luzern naturally opted for a more defensive approach, but they have no other option than to attack with gusto if they are to make Olympiacos sweat. Star Australian striker Tomi Juric is a major doubt for this match as are defenders Lazar Cirkovic, Stefan Knezevic and Claudio Lustenberger. 22-year old Nigerian forward Blessing Eleke will probably lead the attacking line.

Possible line-up: Salvi, Grether, Schmid, Schulz, Sidler, Voca, Gvilia, Ugrinic, Vargas, Demhasaj, Eleke.

TEAM NEWS: OLYMPIACOS

As mentioned in his pre-match press-conference, boss Pedro Martins sees this game as an opportunity for his players to stake a claim for a spot in the starting line-up. Tunisian defender Yassine Meriah has made the trip, however newly signed Israeli midfielder Bibars Natcho was left at home. The roster is expected to stay the same as in the first match.

Possible line-up: Gianniotis, Elabdellaoui, Miranda, Vukovic, Tsimikas, Bouchalakis, Camara, Christodoulopoulos, Podence, Fortounis, Guerrero.

REFEREE: KIRILL LEVNIKOV (RUS)

34-year old Kirill Levnikov, a FIFA referee since 2016, will take charge of the match in Lucerne. Born in Saint Petersburg, the Russian was originally a footballer himself, before he turned his hand to refereeing 2011 by working in Russia’s lower leagues. Interestingly, his father Nikolai Levnikov was also a FIFA category referee.

Referee: Kirill Levnikov (RUS)
Assistant referees: Alexei Vorontsov (RUS), Aram Petrosyan (RUS)
Fourth official: Roman Galimov (RUS)
 

WAYS TO QUALIFY

4:0 to the good, all Olympiacos have to do in order to qualify for the Europa League playoffs is avoid losing by four or more goals. Luzern need to win at least 4:0 to stand a chance of qualification.

WHERE TO WATCH

Watch the match live on AGONAsport here, available worldwide except in Greece and Cyprus! Full TV listings for Greece, the USA, Canada and Australia can be found on this link.

By Shaun Nicolaides

Image Source: gazzetta.gr

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