Our prediction for this Champions League match:
Olympiakos
Match Time & Date:
21/08/2019
03:00 PM
Prediction: 2-0
Krasnodar
Stadio Georgios Karaiskaki will be packed when Olympiakos and Krasnodar face each other in the first leg of the Champions League play-offs. The Thrylos impressed in back-to-back wins over Istanbul Basaksehir and they must be high on confidence ahead of Wednesday’s football match against Krasnodar. The Greeks are a real force to be reckoned with at home and seeing that they crushed Viktoria Plzen 4-0 in Piraeus earlier in the process, we are tempted to put our money on Pedro Martins’ troops.
A man to watch in the home team will be Mathieu Valbuena, who joined the club earlier this summer. The Russians, on the other hand, did well to upset Porto in the double-header, but it is well known that the Dragons’ chiefs were forced to sell several first-team regulars in the summer transfer window. Anyhow, we believe that Olympiakos are going to extend their winning run in the Champions League qualifiers on Wednesday evening.
Highlighted Player (Miguel Guerrero):
Born in Toledo, Spain on 12 July, 1990, Miguel Angel Guerrero started his senior career at Albacete. He played just two matches for Albacete, but he made no less than 60 appearances for the B team between 2009 and 2011.
In 2011 he joined Sporting Gijon B, but he started playing for the first team soon. On 19 August, 2012 Guerrero made his debut for the Asturians in Segunda Division, but he played no moer than 25 minutes in a 2-0 loss to Numancia. Five months later he scored his first goal for Sporting Gijon in a local derby against Real Oviedo.
After scoring 16 goals in 89 appearances for the club between 2012 and 2016, the Spanish attacker signed a two-year deal with Leganes, newly promoted to the Spanish top flight. Guerrero has a contract with Leganes which expires on 30 June, 2018. During his youth career he played for the likes of Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid, Getafe, Toledo and Rayo Vallecano.
Highlighted Team (Krasnodar):
Krasnodar are one of several Russian clubs that were founded in the 21st century (2008). The Byki were promoted to the Russian Premier League in 2011 and they were playing under Serbian tactician Slavoljub Muslin back then. Krasnodar finished the 2014/2015 season in third place in the standings and that is regarded as the club’s biggest success.
The club’s biggest rivals are Kuban Krasnodar and there have always been fireworks when the two teams take on each other in the local derby. The Bulls participated in the 2015/2016 Europa League group stages and it has to be noted that they managed to beat star-studded Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund in front of home fans.
However, they failed to make life difficult for Sparta Prague in the last 32, losing 4-0 to the Czech outfit on aggregate. Krasnodar play their home matches at Krasnodar Stadium, the venue that was built in 2016. The capacity of the stadium is 33,000.
Alaves
Sevilla
Betis
Getafe
Bournemouth
Everton
Watford
Arsenal
Monaco
Marseille
Verona
Milan
