On Thursday night, Olympiacos hosts Genk at the Stadio Georgios Karaiskaki in the Europa League third qualifying round first leg.
The Greek team has enjoyed a decent pre-season campaign, with a 2-0 loss against Norwich ending a four-game unbeaten run in the summer fixtures.
Τελευταία προπόνηση στη Σκωτία! 🔴⚪ pic.twitter.com/LmD58GqVBN— Olympiacos FC (@olympiacosfc) July 28, 2023
Τελευταία προπόνηση στη Σκωτία! 🔴⚪ pic.twitter.com/LmD58GqVBN
With the Super League not kicking off until 20th August, the home team can concentrate on progressing in this competition over two legs.
Olympiacos may need all the concentration they can muster, as the Europa League has not been a kind competition to them in recent years.
In fact, the home team are winless in their previous 13 games in the Europa League over 90 minutes. The run includes suffering four defeats in their last six matches in the competition.
Even home advantage has not done them much good of late, as Olympiacos are winless in six Europa League games on home soil over 90 minutes, having suffered three straight home defeats.
The visitors head into this clash on the back of mixed fortunes at the start of their domestic campaign, as they have won one and lost one of their opening two matches in the Belgian top flight.
However, last time out, Genk recorded a disappointing 1-0 home defeat by Eupen.
Like their hosts, Genk doesn’t have a great record in the Europa League, as they are winless in their previous five matches in the competition, picking up just two draws and suffering three defeats in the run.
However, on the positive side, Genk has lost just once in their last six away games in the Europa League.
Their recent Europa League games on their travels have been relatively high-scoring, with over 2.5 goals scored in ten of their previous 13 away games.
Forebet predicts that Racing Genk will record a potentially decisive victory in a high-scoring encounter.