Europa League
Cisse is the backbone of Olympiacos, with Socrates and Manolas sharing time
How has Pedro Martins managed his centre-backs and what is his plan for the rest of the season. Dimitris Christofidellis counts minutes and divides roles.
Pape Abu Cisse was and remains the most fundamental Olympiacos centre-back in Pedro Martins’ plans throughout the season. The Portuguese manager’s decisions and management in the last nine games reveal a lot about his preferences.
The reference to the last nine games is not accidental given that Cisse was absent from Rentis for the whole of January and the first ten days of February due to his commitments with the Senegalese national team at the Africa Cup of Nations. Where he celebrated capturing the trophy.
The tall centre-back returned to the Olympiacos training facilities on February 11 and had to sit out for the game against AEK (13/2) two days later. Since then and to date, the red-whites have played nine matches in which Martins divided the time of participation in the stoppers as follows:
THE Cisse has played 660 minutes as he has played in all nine games, eight of which he was a key player. The African only played as a substitute in the match against Asteras Tripolis in Karaiskaki, where he played the entire second half.
THE Papastathopoulos has 450 minutes participation time in the corresponding period. The veteran defender was crucial in five of the nine games (two with Atalanta and against Asteras Tripoli, PAS Giannina and AEK), in two more he was on the bench (Volos and Aris in Neo Faliro), in one he was penalized (with Aris in Thessaloniki) and in the other of the 20 teams (OFI).
THE Manolas has played 375 minutes and was a key player in four of the nine games. He started in the two games with Atalanta and against Asteras Tripolis and Aris in Karaiskaki. He played as a substitute in the game with PAS Giannina in Zosimades and was on the bench in the games with Volos, OFI, Aris in Vikelidis and AEK in Karaiskaki.
THE nope counts 270 minutes participation in the last month and a half. The Senegalese defender has been key in three of the nine games. He started in Thessaloniki in the games against Volos, OFI and Aris, was on the bench in the two games against Atalanta and missed the games with Asteras Tripolis, Aris in Neos Faliros, PAS in the top 20 Giannina and AEK. He has featured in just one of the last five games in the league.
Notably, Cisse, Papastathopoulos and Manolas started together in the two games against Atalanta in the Europa League, as Martins had chosen a trio in defense at the time. Since then, the Portuguese coach has abandoned the 3-4-3 formation as he travels with a 4-2-3-1 formation.
Incidentally, the two of the last three times that Martins Olympiakos led the league with a trio were in the derby with Panathinaikos at Leoforos (0-0) and with PAOK in Toumba (1-1). And now the red-whites are facing the two away games with the greens and the biceps of the north for the championship and the cup.
It will be interesting to see whether the Portuguese coach will continue with a four-man defense or recruit a team with three stoppers again.
Source: sport 24
I am a sports writer and journalist who has written for various online publications including Sportish. I’m originally from the UK but currently live in Toronto, Canada. I’m also an author on Sportish and have written several articles on a variety of sports-related topics.
Europa League
Poland took the lead. Who is competing for an additional place in the Champions League?
The two countries with the highest UEFA coefficient at the end of a season will gain an additional entry. Champions League 2026/27.
Like last year, 36 clubs will compete in the main stage of the European Cup main tournament. Two of these will be determined by rating.
All important moments of the match are available in LIVE mode Telegram Sport.ua
The two best-ranked countries in the 2025/26 season will each send one more team to the 2026/27 Champions League.
Next single season rankings:
- P.Olsha (13,625), England (13,486), Germany (12,285), Cyprus (11,406), Italy (11,250), Spain (11,218), France (10,714), Portugal (10,600), Greece (9,500), Denmark (9,500)
The top two countries on this list will be given an additional place in the 2026/27 Champions League.
Leadership Poland It’s about getting bonuses in the Conference League. Three Polish clubs reached the LK play-offs at the same time: Rakow, Lech and Jagiellonia. And only Legia Warsaw withdrew from the tournament.
Ukrainian It ranks 15th among 55 countries in the UEFA single season rankings with 6,812. Shakhtar Donetsk advanced directly to the 1/8 finals of the Conference League and Dynamo Kiev was eliminated from the tournament.
UEFA coefficient For national associations, it is calculated based on the total number of points scored by all clubs in the country. 2 points are awarded for a win, 1 point for a draw, and bonus points are also taken into account. Points received in the qualifying rounds are multiplied by 0.5 times. The total amount is divided by the number of teams representing the country in the European Cup season.
Race for two additional places in the 2026/27 Champions League (top 10)
Top 15 countries in the UEFA rankings for the 2025/26 season
UEFA five-year rankings
Source: Sport UA
Hi, my name is Jayden James. I am a writer at Sportish, and I mostly cover sports news. I have been writing since high school and have been published in various magazines and newspapers. I also write book reviews for a website. In my free time, I enjoy playing soccer and basketball.
english team Aston VillaThe player continues to show incredible form and has already won his 10th consecutive victory in different tournaments.
The successful series includes 7 Premier League matches and 3 Europa League matches. This is a new club record for Aston Villa.
The last win came on 21 December, when the home team beat Manchester United 2-1 at Villa Park in Birmingham.
This winning streak has allowed Aston Villa to secure a place in the top 3 (36 points) of the Premier League standings, ahead of Arsenal (39) and Man City (37).
In the Europa League, Unai Emery’s team safely passed the league stage and entered the top 3 together with Lyon and Mittjylland (15 points out of 18).
Aston Villa’s 10-match winning streak
- 21.12. 19:30. nuclear submarine Aston Villa – Manchester United – 2:1
- 14.12. 16:00. nuclear submarine West Ham – Aston Villa – 2:3
- 11.12. 22:00. LE. Basel-Aston Villa-1:2
- 06.12. 14:30. nuclear submarine Aston Villa – Arsenal – 2:1
- 03.12. 21:30. nuclear submarine Brighton – Aston Villa – 3:4
- 30.11. 16:05. nuclear submarine Aston Villa – Wolverhampton – 1:0
- 27.11. 19:45. LE. Aston Villa – Young Men – 2:1
- 23.11. 16:00. nuclear submarine Leeds – Aston Villa – 1:2
- 09.11. 16:00. nuclear submarine Aston Villa – Bournemouth – 4:0
- 06.11. 22:00. LE. Aston Villa – Maccabi Tel Aviv – 2:0
Aston Villa’s winning streak in the 2025/26 season
Source: Sport UA
Hi, my name is Jayden James. I am a writer at Sportish, and I mostly cover sports news. I have been writing since high school and have been published in various magazines and newspapers. I also write book reviews for a website. In my free time, I enjoy playing soccer and basketball.
Ukrainian defender Nottingham Forest Alexander Zinchenko He shared his feelings after his team beat Utrecht (2:1) in the main round of the Europa League.
“It’s a great feeling. First of all, I’m back. Secondly, it’s an incredible feeling to win a match. Getting three points today was very important for us. As you can see, it was a difficult match. But at the end of the match, I think we got what we wanted and let’s continue like that.”
“As a defender you always want to keep a clean sheet, but unfortunately we couldn’t do that today. So it’s something we need to work on in the future.”
“This is one of those matches where whoever wins the most challenges in different areas of the field will win the match. Today we won many more goals which helped us a lot in the game. But to be honest, even the opportunities we created, including me, we should have scored and finished this match earlier,” said Zinchenko.
Nottingham Forest is in 11th place in the rankings with 11 points after 6 matches in the Europa League this season.
Source: Sport UA
Hi, my name is Jayden James. I am a writer at Sportish, and I mostly cover sports news. I have been writing since high school and have been published in various magazines and newspapers. I also write book reviews for a website. In my free time, I enjoy playing soccer and basketball.
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