Olympiacos and Fenerbahce will begin their fight for a spot in the final four of the Europa Conference League on Thursday, when they meet at the Karaiskakis Stadium in the first leg of their quarter-final tie.
The hosts scraped past Maccabi Tel Aviv in the round of 16 to reach this stage, while their visitors got the better of Union Saint-Gilloise over two legs.
Match preview
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Olympiacos return to European action on Thursday having begun their continental campaign in the Europa League back in August, initially getting past Genk and Cukaricki to reach the group stage of Europe's secondary competition.
The Greek outfit then joined West Ham United, Freiburg and TSC in Group A, and while they were unable to progress in the top two, the Thrylos' tally of seven points was enough to comfortably seal third place and book a place in the Europa Conference League knockout round playoff, setting up a tie with Ferencvaros with a round-of-16 place on the line.
Jose Luis Mendilibar's side would prevail in that contest, winning 1-0 in each leg as Ayoub El Kaabi got on the scoresheet on both occasions, before they met Maccabi Tel Aviv in the final 16 and looked to be all but out having suffered a 4-1 defeat on home turf last month.
Then travelling to Israel for the second leg with a mountain to climb, the Thrylos came back in eye-catching fashion in their away leg, forcing extra time with a 4-1 win in 90 minutes, thanks to El Kaabi's brace and goals from Daniel Podence and Kostas Fortounis before triumphing in an eventual 7-5 aggregate victory with Stevan Jovetic and Youssef El-Arabi scoring in extra time.
Now returning to continental action with their sights set on the Europa Conference League semi-finals, on the back of dominant victories over Aris and Lamia in the Greek Super League, most recently thrashing the latter 5-1 on Sunday, Olympiacos will bid to make home advantage count on Thursday and gain an edge in the tie with a victory in Piraeus.
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In their way stand a Fenerbahce side who will aim to continue their long stay in this year's Europa Conference League, having played 14 matches thus far in this year's competition to reach the quarter-finals, initially entering in the second qualifying round and seeing off Zimbru Chisinau, Maribor and Twente on their way to the group stage.
At that point, the Turkish giants joined Ludogorets, Nordsjaelland and Spartak Trnava, and they booked an automatic passage to the round of 16 by topping the group, pipping the former to first place with a superior goal difference having amassed 12 points from their six matches.
That set up a meeting with Belgian outfit Union Saint-Gilloise, and Ismail Kartal's side prevailed on aggregate thanks to a 3-0 away victory, in which Michy Batshuayi, Jayden Oosterwolde and Dusan Tadic got on the scoresheet, before holding their lead in a 1-0 defeat on the night in Istanbul in mid-March.
Then following a narrow 3-2 win over Trabzonspor and a 4-2 triumph over Adana Demirspor to continue their pursuit of top spot in the Turkish Super Lig, the Yellow Canaries most recently met Galatasaray in the Turkish Super Cup final at the weekend, fielding a youthful squad and walking off the pitch in the opening minute in protest against the hierarchy of Turkish football, following the violent pitch invasion in their meeting with Trabzonspor and the planning of such a final.
Aiming to turn their focus back on the pitch and returning to action with a full-strength squad, Fenerbahce will aim to build on their impressive continental campaign and recent run of league form to gain a lead in their quarter-final tie in Thursday's away leg.
Team News
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Olympiacos will remain without defender Sotiris Alexandropoulos due to an injury on Thursday, while winger Daniel Podence will also not feature as he will serve a one-match European suspension for a collection of yellow cards.
Instead, the attack should again be spearheaded by former Manchester City man Stevan Jovetic and star forward Ayoub El Kaabi, who has notched up 27 goals in all competitions for the Greek outfit so far this term, including 10 in just 14 appearances across their Europa League and Europa Conference League campaigns.
If key man Kostas Fortounis remains out of action, after missing the recent beating of Lamia, Gelson Martins and Georgios Masouras should continue in support of the front two, while Santiago Hezze and Andre Horta may again line up in the engine room in front of Nelson Abbey and Panagiotis Retsos at the heart of the back four, if the latter is deemed fit after being withdrawn on the hour mark at the weekend.
Fenerbahce continue to deal with several injuries ahead of their trip to Turkey, with defender Luan Peres, midfielder Fred and attacker Josh King all set to remain confined to the treatment room.
After changing his squad in protest for the Turkish Super Cup, Ismail Kartal will revert back to his strongest available starting XI, and right-back Bright Osayi-Samuel should feature from the outset on his return to contention, after missing their last league outing, a 4-2 triumph over Adana Demirspor, through injury.
Striker Michy Batshuayi also missed that game with a knock, and if he remains sidelined Edin Dzeko is bound to again lead the line, with the Bosnian veteran having netted 23 goals so far this term, while Dusan Tadic and Sebastian Szymanski will continue to play key roles in support of the lone front man.
Olympiacos possible starting lineup:
Tzolakis; Rodinei, Retsos, Abbey, Richards; Horta, Gezze; Masouras, Martins; El Kaabi, Jovetic
Fenerbahce possible starting lineup:
Livakovic; Osayi-Samuel, Dijku, Oosterwolde, Kadioglu; Krunic, Zajc; Kahveci, Szymanski, Tadic; Dzeko
We say: Olympiacos 1-1 Fenerbahce
We see these two sides on a relatively level playing field and anticipate a tight and entertaining two-legged encounter as they fight for a semi-final spot in Europe's tertiary competition.
While Olympiacos will be desperate to make the most of the home advantage, we see their visitors having enough to take the tie to the second meeting in Turkey on level terms with everything still to play for.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Sam Varley
