Apollon vs Olympiacos prediction, preview, team news and more | UEFA Europa League playoffs 2022-23
Apollon will host Olympiacos at the GSP Stadion in the first leg of their UEFA Europa League playoff tie on Thursday.
The visitors booked their spot at this stage with a penalty shootout victory over Slovan Bratislava in the third qualifying round. The Greek champions were held to a 1-1 draw on home turf and also shared the spoils in a 2-2 draw in Slovakia.
Penalties were needed to determine who advanced and the Athens outfit secured progress with a 4-3 victory in the shootout.
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Apollon Limassol dropped into the second-tier competition following their elimination from the UEFA Champions League qualifiers. They suffered a 4-2 aggregate defeat to Maccabi Haifa, with the Israeli champions' 4-0 first-leg victory helping them to secure progress.
The winner of the playoff tie will secure qualification to the Europa League group stage, while the loser will drop into the UEFA Europa Conference League group stage.
Apollon vs Olympiacos Head-to-Head
This will be the first continental meeting between the two sides. They squared off in a friendly in May 2011 that saw the spoils shared in a 1-1 draw.
Mohamed Bangura and Giannis Papadopoulos scored in either half to ensure parity was restored at fulltime.
Apollon form guide (all competitions): W-W-L
Olympiacos form guide (all competitions): W-D-L-D
Apollon vs Olympiacos Team News
Apollon
Ilian Iliev, Nicolas Diguiny and Bagaliy Dabo have been sidelined with injuries. Vukasin Jovanovic has served out his suspension for his dismissal against Maccabi Haifa and has been included in the squad.
Injuries: Ilian Iliev, Nicolas Diguiny and Bagaliy Dabo
Suspension: None
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Olympiacos
Aboubakar Kamara and Sokratis Papastathopoulos are unavailable due to injuries. Tiquinho Soares recently departed the club to join Botafogo.
Garry Rodrigues and Sime Vrsaljko have returned to fitness and might play a part in the match.
Injuries: Aboubakar Kamara, Sokratis Papastathopoulos
Suspension: None
Apollon vs Olympiacos Predicted XI
Apollon Predicted XI (4-4-2): Aleksandar Jovanovic (GK); Amine Khammas, Valentin Roberge, Mathieu Paybernes, Euclides Cabral; Hervin Ongenda, Israel Coll, Charalampos Kyriakou, Ioannis Pittas; Nicolas Diguiny, Rangelo Janga
Olympiacos Predicted XI (4-4-2): Thomas Vaclik (GK); Oleg Reabciuk, Pape Cisse, Ousseynou Ba, Pipa; Philip Zinckernagel, Pierre Kunde, Yann M'Vila, Georgios Masouras; Lazar Randjelovic, Youssef El Arabi
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Apollon vs Olympiacos Prediction
Olympiacos enter the game as favorites to advance to the group stage and have more proven players at the highest levels of continental football.
However, Apollon Limassol can hold their own against the Greek giants and will want to get a positive first leg result in front of their fans. Home advantage would see them create enough chances to find the back of the net but we are backing the visitors to leave with a narrow victory.
Prediction: Apollon 1-2 Olympiacos