Olympiacos ready for UCL group stage draw

Ahead of the draw on Thursday evening, AGONAsport takes a look at the possible opponents for Olympiacos in the group stage of the 2019/2020 UEFA Champions League.

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This week, Olympiacos sealed their grand return to the Champions League group stage with a resounding victory over FC Krasnodar, earning an impressive 6-1 aggregate victory. Olympiacos last competed in the group phase of the Champions League in the 2017/2018 campaign, claiming one point in six matches against Barcelona, Juventus and Sporting Lisbon.

Olympiacos had to pass through three tricky qualifying rounds to reach the group stage, beating Viktoria Plzen, Basaksehir and Krasnodar with five victories and one draw in the six games. The in-form Erythrolefki, who are firing on all cylinders under the leadership of Pedro Martins, only conceded one goal in those six matches while scoring 13.

The Piraeus giants are placed in Pot 3 for the draw and will be pitted against one team from each of the remaining three pots.

Here is a breakdown of the four pots for the 2019/2020 UEFA Champions League group stage draw:

Pot 1

Liverpool (ENG)

Chelsea (ENG)

Barcelona (ESP)

Manchester City (ENG)

Juventus (ITA)

Bayern Munich (GER)

Paris Saint Germain (FRA)

Zenit Saint Petersburg (RUS)*

Pot 2

Real Madrid (ESP)

Atletico Madrid (ESP)

Borussia Dortmund (GER)

Napoli (ITA)

Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR)*

Tottenham Hotspur (ENG)

Ajax (NED)

Benfica (POR)

Pot 3

Olympique Lyonnais (FRA)

Bayer Leverkusen (GER)

Salzburg (AUT)

Olympiacos (GRE)

Club Brugge (BEL)

Valencia (ESP)

Internazionale (ITA)

Dinamo Zagreb (CRO)

Pot 4

Lokomotiv Moscow (RUS)*

Genk (BEL)

Galatasaray (TUR)

Leipzig (GER)

Slavia Prague (CZE)

Red Star Belgrade (SRB)

Atalanta (ITA)

Lille (FRA)

*Russian and Ukrainian teams cannot be drawn together due to political reasons

At first glance, an ideal draw for Olympiacos would be Zenit Saint Petersburg (Pot 1), Benfica (Pot 2) and Genk (Pot 4), while a group with Manchester City (Pot 1), Real Madrid (Pot 2) and Leipzig (Pot 4) would immediately limit the Greeks’ chances of progressing in the competition.

The draw process will begin at 19:00 Greek time on Thursday in Monaco.

By: Shaun Nicolaides

Image Source: sdna.gr

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