Paniliakos FC

Paniliakos FC Fan Blog

Portuguese managers have been growing in big numbers over the last few decades. Even as the likes of Jose Mourinho have been receiving the sack, these bosses have been functioning extremely well and their teams are in very good shape. One of those two managers enjoying a bright spell of form is Pedro Martins at Olympiakos. The Greek outfit were able to extend their brilliant form that they have been showing since last season. Apart from winning the Super League campaign and ensuring qualification to the Champions League, Martins is also hoping for a lot of success in Europe this season.

Olympiakos were only able to finish in the second spot of the Greece standings. However, they were able to conclude the campaign with a remarkable set of 10 victories. Even then, PAOK were able to end up as champions after managing to go undefeated throughout the season. The early stages of the new season have suggested that Olympiakos are still in a very strong position. The team were able to get a 6-1 aggregate success over Russian outfit Krasnodar, who had previously conquered FC Porto. Last season, Olympiakos were able to create headlines by knocking AC Milan out of Europe.

Nelson Oliveira’s spell in English football appears to be coming to an end after he has signed for Greek outfit AEK Athens. The Portuguese striker spent the second half of last season on loan at Reading, as he was deemed surplus to requirements at Norwich City. Reading manager José Gomez was very keen on bringing Oliveira on a permanent basis to the Madejski Stadium, but the Royals have been unable to come to terms with the player. Oliveira had a long-standing problem with Norwich that even prevented him from getting a squad member for the 2019-20 campaign in the Premier League. He had one year left on his contract with the Canaries.

The forward has decided to agree a move to Greece with an annual wages of around € 1 million. The 27-year-old will be signing a two-year contract with AEK Athens. The strong Portuguese contingent at the club has been a huge influence in helping seal the move. Miguel Cardoso has been in charge of the team while the likes of Paulinho, Helder Lopes, André Simões, and Francisco Geraldes provide a lot of comfort for Oliveira to settle into the team. The Greek outfit are hoping to have a strong campaign in the 2019-20 season after finishing third in the table last season. The team went behind PAOK and Olympiakos, but they managed to hold off a late challenge fromAtromitos.

Olympiakos were able to gain a huge advantage in the third round of the Champions League qualification after a 1-0 victory over Istanbul Basaksehir. Despite being on the road, the Greek outfit were able to get this narrow victory that places them in a comfortable position ahead of the second leg. Olympiakos came into the game with a mediocre away record, but they were aware about Istanbul Basaksehir’s troubles when it comes to defending. The latter once again reared the ugly head and the Greek outfit were able to get a narrow win despite being bossed on several fronts like corners, shots on target, and possession.

After a goalless first half, GiorgiosMasouras came up with a goal in the 53rd minute. This acted as an impetus for Olympiakos to hold on to the lead. The hosts became increasingly nervous as the time went on. The likelihood of getting an equaliser decreased substantially when midfielder Irfan Kahveci was sent off for a second bookable offence in the 80th minute. Just when it seemed that things could not get worse for the Turkish team, Edin Višća ended up missing a penalty in the second minute of injury time that would have given Istanbul a huge amount of hope about qualification to the next round.

Pedro Martins will be relieved man after Olympiakos have been able to avoid PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League qualification rounds. The draw for the second round of the qualification campaign for Europe’s premier competition took place recently at Nyon. Olympiakos were quite nervous about this, as there was a significant possibility of coming up against Dutch outfit PSV, who have a lot of strength in the ranks. Now, Olympiakos will face Viktoria Plzen. After finishing as the runner-up in the Super League, Olympiakos have been able to graduate from the group stages by beating AC Milan.

The Dutch powerhouse would have been a formidable opponent for Olympiakos, who have not been able to reach the group stages of the Champions League in two out of the last three campaigns. The team did feature in the 2017-18 group stages when they were paired up against powerhouses like Juventus and Barcelona. The second leg of the Champions League qualifiers will be a two legged affair that will start on July 23/24. The first leg will be in Czech Republic and this will be followed by the game in Greece.

Arsenal are set to make a sensational signing of PSG prodigy Christopher Nkunku according to reports. According to French tabloid L’Equipe, Arsenal have agreed a deal that would see Nkunku join the club this summer.

Nkunku is also a target for Greek side Olympiakos as several clubs are interested in snapping the highly rated forward.

Mady Camara might be on his way to England this summer as Watford has been knocking on the door and the 22-year old is believed to have taken a fair bit of interest in the offer. However sources close to him say that he is yet to take the final call and will take it once he completes his national duty at the upcoming AFCON.

It’s been only a season that Camara has been at Olympiakos and he has done enough to draw attention from different clubs across the globe. Watford is not the only club chasing him, but there are a couple others as well which are desirable to have the services of the young playmaker.

Arsenal defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos is confident that the Gunners can make the top four despite suffering a 1-0 defeat to Everton on the road last weekend. The north London side are currently three points behind the fourth position occupied by Chelsea but they have the advantage of two games in hand over the west London outfit.

In an interview covered by Sky Sports, Sokratis acknowledged that the Gunners were outclassed by the Toffees in the recent away meeting. Nonetheless, the central defender remains optimistic about the club’s top four prospects and believes four wins from the remaining six matches should achieve their objective, he said: “We didn’t win a lot of battles. We conceded a goal that is a little bit easy and lost the game. But we are looking forward. We know that we have to win at least two games at home and two games away. We need to win at least four games. In the end, we will see if we are there.”

Olympiakos’ match against Panathinaikos has been called off due to the home supporters clashing with police and also attacking the players. Panathinaikos were taking on Olympiakos in the match at OAKA Stadium but there was a major setback in this Greek Super League encounter. After just four minutes into the Athens derby, Panathinaikos supporters invaded the pitch and started attacking the opposition players – even those on the bench. The referees decided to temporarily halt the match for around eight minutes before it was resumed. However, police were unable to control the violence even then and it spilled to the outside of the stadium.

The violence in the match increased especially after Olympiakos came up with the only goal of the game in the 53rd minute. Miguel Angel Guerrero was able to come up with the breakthrough and this angered the home fans and even further. Police had to resort to using teargas in order to disperse the home supporters. As the teargas spilled onto the pitch, it started affecting the players. Referee Marco Fritz had no option but to abandon the match after 70 minutes. Panathinaikos had to end up on the losing side since Olympiakos were leading when the game was halted. Olympiakos were handed with three points, while Panathinaikos could now face a fine and a potential points deduction.

Greece sees Future of National Side in the highly rated teenager Christian Vassilakis. It has been reported that the Greek Football Federation is trying to snap the star from Real Madrid, Vassilakis who has been in a great form for the Real Madrid juniors in the European Under-19 qualification Elite Round which is going to be held in March. The HFF is attempting to get past the required paperwork to include the 18-year-old striker in the squad of the team. Christian Vassilakis, popularly known as Vassi, qualifies for Greek nationality although he is a Valencia-born forward via his grandfather. This highly rated teenager has bagged around 500 goals in the set – up of Valencia before getting in the Real Madrid last season.

Dynamo Kyiv and Olympiakos were almost inseparable in the first leg of the Europa league last 32 match after playing out a 2-2 draw at the Stadio Georgios Karaiskáki.

Dynamo Kyiv entered into the match hopeful about picking up something from the match that would give them confidence ahead of the return leg at home. It was exactly the case with the team managing to score from both the shots on target in the match.