Olympiacos vs Astana will be the fifth encounter between a Greek and a Kazakh side in a competitive European match. This is, however, the first time the two sides will be facing each other, and neither side has ever faced opposition from the opposite country.
FC Astana’s 4,000 kilometre journey from Kazakhstan’s capital to Athen’s port of Piraeus will therefore be a trip into the unknown. Astana will also be looking for their first European away victory since defeating the Swedish club AIK Solna 3-0 in the 2014-15 Europa League third qualifying round.
In fact Astana have never won a match away from home in the group stage of either UEFA Champions League or the Europa League, and have instead relied on their home record where they remained undefeated in the group stage of the Champions League last season, and tied Basel 0-0 this season in their only home match.
Travel seems to be the main factor to explain Astana’s good record at home, and rather poor record away from home. The Kazakhs are now without a victory in 11 European away matches, but perhaps they are meeting Olympiacos at the right time, as the Greeks have only won one of their last five home matches.
Futbolgrad predicted that Astana would finish third in Group B, but APOEL’s two victories against Astana and Olympiacos has meant that the group appears somewhat lopsided with the Cypriote side placing first in the group stage and the Young Boys Bern last.
Astana are currently third, but Olympiacos’ defeat to APOEL has meant that the group is wide open after two matchdays, which makes Olympiacos vs Astana an intriguing affair, as both teams will be looking for an advantage to in order to advance from Group B.
Given Astana’s poor away record, however, Olympiacos will be the favourites to win the match on Thursday night at the Stadio Georgios Karaiskakis in Piraeus.
Possible Line-ups
Olympiacos:
Formation: 4-2-3-1
Kapino – Retsos, Botia, da Costa, Figueiras – Milivojević, Martins – Sebá, Marin, Elyounoussi – Ideye
Manager: Paulo Bento
Astana:
Formation: 4-2-3-1
Eric – Beysebekov, Anicic, Lobvinenko, Engel – Maksimovic, Canas – Kabananga, Nurgaliyev, Twumasi – Despotovic
Manager: Stanimir Stoilov
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