Olympiacos vs Manchester United
UEFA Champions League, Round of 16
Tuesday 25 February, 2014
19:45 KO (BST)
Karaiskakis Stadium, Athens (32,115)
“We know there’s lots at stake for Manchester United in this match. We know Manchester United are not allowed to make any mistakes due to their position in the Premier League and we have to say probably this kind of situation may weigh too much on their players’ shoulders. It could be an incentive to them or it could be a burden on their shoulders.” – Michel (Olympiacos manager).
Starting XI from: Roberto, Balazs Megyeri; Kostas Manolas, Dimitrios Siovas, Avraam Papadopoulos, Gaetan Bong, Jose Holebas, Leandro Salino, Ivan Marcano; Giannis Maniatis, Andreas Samaris, Delvin Ndinga, Paulo Machado, David Fuster, Alejandro Dominguez, Joel Campbell; Nikos Vergos, Michael Olaitan
Doubts: Nelson Valdez (ankle)
Unavailable: Javier Saviola (thigh)
Top scorer: Javier Saviola, Kostas Manolas, Alejandro Dominguez (2)
Most assists: Ten players (1)
Group C record: P6 W3 D1 L2 F10 A8 Pts10 (2nd)
UCL form: L W D W L W
“Olympiacos did very well against PSG and Benfica. They came through a difficult group, they have a great home record here. We know it will be a difficult night. They have a big support. It’s far from an easy match.”– David Moyes.
“When you get to this stage in the competition you can’t afford any slip-ups or you’re out. The away leg is very important – we need to get a good result there.” – Shinji Kagawa.
Starting XI from: David de Gea, Anders Lindegaard; Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand, Chris Smalling, Alex Buttner, Patrice Evra; Antonio Valencia, Adnan Januzaj, Ashley Young, Ryan Giggs, Darren Fletcher, Michael Carrick, Marouane Fellaini, Tom Cleverley, Shinji Kagawa, Jesse Lingard; Danny Welbeck, Javier Hernandez, Wayne Rooney, Robin van Persie
Doubts: Rafael da Silva (concussion)
Unavailable: Nani (hamstring), Jonny Evans (calf), Phil Jones (concussion), Juan Mata (ineligible)
Top scorer: Wayne Rooney, Antonio Valencia (2)
Most assists: Wayne Rooney (3)
Group A record: P6 W4 D2 L0 F12 A3 Pts14 (1st)
UCL form: W D W D W W
Record vs Olympiacos: P4 W4 D0 L0 F12 A2
Previous meetings
Olympiacos 2-3 United (23-10-02)
United 4-0 Olympiacos (01-10-02)
United 3-0 Olympiacos (23-10-01)
Olympiacos 0-2 United (10-10-01)
Officials
Referee: Gianluca Rocchi.
The 40-year-old official has taken charge of 2 Champions League matches this season, brandishing 4 yellow cards. Last seen by United fans during the 2-0 win over Ajax in the Reds’ ill-fated 2011/12 Europa League campaign.
Assistants: Elenito Di Liberatore, Gianluca Cariolato.
Fourth Official: Alessandro Giallatini.
Notes
Should he feature, Ryan Giggs will make a 150th European Cup appearance for Manchester United.
Nemanja Vidic looks set to make a 50th appearance in the Champions League for Manchester United.
United are on a run of four consecutive clean sheets in this season’s UEFA Champions League.
Olympiacos have won 6 of their last 8 home matches in the Champions League, scoring in all of them.
Olympiacos are unbeaten at home in their last 5 matches against English opposition.
Ryan Giggs scored twice in a 4-0 United romp over Olympiacos back in October, 2002 – the last time an English club won away to Olympiacos.
United are one of only three sides still unbeaten in this season’s competiton (Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid).
United are also one of three teams (Atletico Madrid and Chelsea) with the best defensive record, having conceded only 3 goals.
Olympiacos 5/2 Draw 23/10 United 11/10
RedMancunian predictions
Jack (@jackkholt): Olympiacos 1-2 United
Craig (@CraigNorwood): Olympiacos 0-3 United
Sam (@CenterSneak): Olympiacos 1-2 United
Jay (@RFFH): Olympiacos 0-1 United
Mark (@mdhzk3): Olympiacos 1-2 United
Andy (@andy_thomo): Olympiacos 1-2 United
Nick (@ManUnitedYouth): Olympiacos 0-2 United
4 replies on “MATCH PREVIEW: Olympiacos vs Manchester United”
I only wish man u best
My predication line up
De gea
Smalling Vidic rio Evra
Carrick fellani
Valencia Rooney kagawa
RVP
0-1 to utd
My prediction line up. De gea. Smelling acidic Ferdinand Evra. Ashley young Rooney januzaj Vern persie
as far as my current count goes…. im pretty sure carrick has been responsible for us conceding about 3 goals within the past couple of months, and has offered practically nothing in terms of attack. how he still warrants a place i am at loss for any understanding.
i was genuinely hopeful for the inclusion of kagawa…. but then moyes makes modifications that are suicidal to attack.
this match is proof rooney is wasted dropping deep! he is not a midfielder… he is not a “number 10″… he is a striker!! when used as one he scores bucketloads of goals!!! when hes used as a number 10 he struggles to effectively influence the game!
moyes has no concept of shape, and his substitutes showed that!
were welbeck was supposed to be playing i have no idea, although not where he should be.. he should have been shifted to the left wing!
rooney should have been forced to finally partner RVP, with kagawa being given the responsibility of feeding them! and carrick should have been forced to stop cowering behind vidic and ferdinand! i feel for smalling SLIGHTLY lol… cus it appeared he really sturggled with his boots for some reason, but why they didnt sort that i have no idea, so maybe he was just drunk? i dunno.. hence the SLIGHTLY lol
kagwa showed 1 glimpse of why i am right in how him and rooney should be played, where rooney (in attack) outsidfe the box flicked it to kagwa who neatly found i think evra… but after that it was just forgetable 🙁
however, if my desired midfield attack of janujaz kagwa mata was used, that neat ball would have been to janujaz and boy could things have actually happened!
moyes and co continue to act like a bunch of imbeciles (yh i had to use spell check for that lol), by think that just putting players on the pitch should just work! well in that case a sterring wheel in the boot, and accelerator pedal on the bonet should be the design plan of Lamborghini’s next car co-designed by moyes!
yes the team were terrible individual and even worse so collectively, but what really hampered things was that that central pair consisted of two of the worst possible pairings (out of carrick fletcher or cleverley) you cant do it… i have said it after each match they have played cus the results are horrific!!! centre of midfield is the heart of the engine… if its set defensively… then god help you! and in this case… god could not have helped us any more because olympiakos were terrible!
for all of cleverleys faults… i would choose him of carrick any day of the week! for a player that is a regular starter… carrick is a joke… for a player that barely starts… can you really expect a huge amount more from cleverley? and kagawa… he needs at least 3 straight games playing in 4-1-3-2… fellaini needs to be our holding midfielder and mata janujaz kagawa working behind the strikers… i would actually say hernandez welbeck deserve the next match cus rooney RVP need time out!