The night of reaction, the 10 million qualification and Corberan’s line-up

The pressure on the backs of the Olympiakos players is great. As well as the obligation to qualify for the next phase of the Europa League. However, the red-white organization has learned to work in similar conditions and Carlos Corberan and his players have to find a way and overcome Slovan Bratislava’s obstacle tonight (8/11, 21:30, COSMOTE SPORT 1, LIVE Sportish). Techelne Pole Stadium.

The Piraeus team is aiming for their first win of the season. A victory that, after the 1-1 draw in the first leg in Karaiskakis, of course secured qualification for the Europa League play-offs. The Red-Whites just want a double in Slovakia to continue the tournament, face Apollon Limassol in the next stage and freeze their European continuation until winter.

After being eliminated by Maccabi Haifa in the Champions League qualifier (1-1, 0-4), there is no room for a new mistake. In Olympiakos they want to avoid a second failure in a row because if they are eliminated by Slovan they will continue in the Conference League playoffs and fall against either Zrinski or Tobol.

At other stages, the Piraeus team didn’t even think about overcoming Slovan’s goal, the coach wouldn’t call it the “final”. However, Olympiacos is currently not the team that should be in these qualifiers for European competitions. A lot of things are missing, but players are also invited to sign up by stamping the ticket to the next stage.

At least 10 million and the magic number 42

Olympiacos are playing for prestige, their European sequel in the second regular competition, while the whole effort is accompanied by a financial incentive. The Red-Whites lost the 40m Champions League by missing their first goal, but the Europa League’s €10+m is just as important. Above all, it is important that the red and white react and change the situation of the last few weeks.

The Red and Whites are aiming for their 42nd away win in their European history, a win that could change their season. Olympiacos last won away from home last September, with an emphatic 3-0 win over Fenerbahce in Istanbul, with Masoura scoring twice and Tikinios being the protagonists.

To achieve their goal, the Piraeus side must first pay attention to their defense. Results, especially over the last decade, have shown Olympiacos to make a ‘double’ in Europe when they can and keep a clean sheet in defence.

Suddenly thrown in at the deep end, Carlos Corberan is struggling with some competitive problems as key players are unavailable. The Spain manager has tried to emphasize the players’ psychology in the last 24 hours as he saw a lack of confidence.

The young coach wants footballers to approach the pitch with passion and determination, to be focused, competitive and most importantly efficient in attack and defence.

The absences, the possible line-up and the alternatives

The Spaniard is not counting on injured Papastathopoulos, Rodrigues, Vrsalikos and Androutsos, Manolas traveled to Slovakia with just one training session while Masouras has complaints but is available. In addition, Corberan is not counting on three transfers: Aboubakar Kamara, who is injured, Huang, whose papers had not arrived when the European list was announced, and Leidner.

In terms of starting line-up, Korberan is oriented towards Olympiakos, with Vačlik under the posts, Avila on the right in defence, Reabciuk on the left and Cisse and Ba or Manolas in the center of defence. Embila and Kunte will coexist in central midfield, with Zinkernagel moving up front while Rangelovic and Masouras play on the wings. At the front of the attack, El Arabi has an advantage over Tiquinio.

If Masouras doesn’t get over that uneasiness and can’t keep up, then Zinkernagel will play on the flanks of the attack, Kunde will be promoted easily behind the centre-forward and one of Bouhalakis or Kane will be used alongside Embilas. In addition, Olympiacos have players who can come on during the game and provide valuable assistance, such as Valbuena, while Aguibu Kamara is also available.