Olympiacos have to be feeling great as they enter their second group stage of this season’s Champions League against Malmö. The Greeks pulled off an upset of last season’s runner-up Atlético Madrid in their opener, and could find themselves with six points and at least a share of the top spot in Group A if things go their way.
Malmö vs. Olympiacos, 2014 UEFA Champions League: Team news and game preview
Olympiacos could find themselves at the top of Group A if they can defeat Malmö in Sweden.
Milos Bicanski
Considering that most looked at the group after the draw earlier this year and immediately pegged Olympiacos to drop to the Europa League, its ould be a wonderful start to their campaign. There’s still a long way to go, but there’s not a coach in the competition who wouldn’t be pleased with six points from their first two games.
In their way is Malmö who were worn down in the second half by Juventus in a 2-0 loss. The Swedish club did not play poorly though, keeping the match scoreless until the 59th minute and only allowing a second in stoppage time. That's better than was expected of them having to deal with Juve in Italy, so they should be confident returning home where they didn't concede a goal in three UCL qualifiers this season.
Key Player: Robin Olsen (Malmö)
Olympiacos are going to try and test Malmö‘s defense so the task of keeping the back line organized and keeping the ball out of the goal falls to goalkeeper Robin Olsen. He wasn’t bad making six saves, but his team also lined up in an extremely conservative formation. With Malmö likely to open things up a bit and try to get a home victory, there should be space for Olympiacos to play into.
Key Matchup: Kostantinos Mitroglou vs. Malmö central defense
Malmö are solid defensively. They’ve kept 10 clean sheets in league play, they frustrated Juventus for nearly an hour on the first match day. Thus it’s the task of the Olympiacos attack, led by Kostantinos Mitroglou to find a way through. Mitroglou was a huge failure during his short time at Fulham in the EPL, but he’s rediscovered his goal scoring touch upon returning to Greece. He’ll need to find space in-between the defense and take advantage of chances in Olympakos want another UCL win.
Malmö injuries and suspensions
Out: Markus Halsti (groin), Simon Kroon (foot), Simon Thern (leg)
Olympiacos injuries and suspensions
Out: Jorge Benitez (thigh), David Fuster (groin), Dimitris Siovas (thigh).
Three Olympiacos players -- Benitez, Fuster and Siovas -- are sidelined for the match, though Fuster was the only one to see any time in their win over Atléti. Malmo have injury doubts in Halsti, Kroon and Thern
Match Date/Time: Wednesday 8:45 p.m. local, 2:45 p.m. ET
Venue: Swedbank Stadion, Malmö, Sweden
TV: DirecTV, FOX Soccer Plus (U.S.), Sky Sports Red Button (U.K.), NERIT1, (Greece), TV6 Sweden, Viasat Xtra 3 (Sweden)
Online: FOX Soccer 2Go, ESPN3 (U.S.), Sportsnet World Now (Canada), SkyGo (U.K.), Neritan Live Streaming (Greece), Viaplay Sweden (Sweden)
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