OFI Crete vs Olympiakos

Olympiakos manager Ernesto Valverde will keep an attacking starting-eleven against the Cretans in this Cup semi-final, in order to get clear with a straight win. Olympiakos wants to get the double this year and the club’s President has given extra “cash” motive to the players if they succeed. Olympiakos has nearly done it for the Champioship and this game against OFI will take them to the final.

 

Olympiakos has three returns for their starting line-up. Basic goalkeeper Roy Carol is back to play against his previous team, their attacker Rafic Jebour is also back and the most important player in the midfield, Ibagasa is coming back to the starting eleven. All three players are important to a successful side and are expected to begin the game. The rest of the Olympiakos eleven will be the same as their last game against Panaitolikos (0-1 win away for Olympiakos). Torosidis, Papadopoulos, Melberg and Holebas will be the defenders. Maniatis and Orbaith will be the defensive midfielders. Ibagasa will play in front of them and the three up-front will be Abdun, Miralas and Jebour.

 

It is true that in the first-leg game in Athens, Olympiakos had a difficult game, wining 1-0 with a goal at 81′ by defender Melberg. In Crete their match will not be any easier. OFI has a very viber and powerful fans and they will try and push their side to do their best against Olympiakos. However, the difference of the two sides is more than enough for the Athenians to get the win.

 

OFI will have a full line-up too. The Cretans have come back to the first league this year and they seem to made it more than enough, as they are 8th in the league and they play the semi-final against Olympiakos.

 

Of course when any team has a semi-final to play in their ground, will do the most to do their best to go to the final. However, OFI’s outmost importance is the league and the financial status of the club, rather their ambition to go to a Cup final. The team is doing great in the league, but they do have many gaps in their game. In their last 10 games they have only 2 wins, 2 draws and 6 defeats! So, they are not doing very well at the moment and they have to be careful to these last 3 fixtures in the league. On the other hand, Olympiakos is in great form. In their last 10 games in the league they have 9 wins and 1 defeat. They are full-eleven against OFI and it is more than enough to make a simple 0-1 win in Crete, despite the “hot” welcome by the Cretan fans..