Olympiacos vs Tottenham Hotspur 19/09/19

19 September 2019

Olympiacos and Tottenham Hotspur go head-to-head at the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium for the opening match of Group B, as the last year’s UEFA Champions League (CL) runners-up travel to Greece for the first time since 2014/15. It will be their first-ever CL H2H, with Tottenham coming out on top 4-1 on aggregate in their 1972/73 UEFA Cup two-legged showdown.

The hosts return to the CL action after a year of absence, hoping to improve on their tally of a single point from the 2017/18 campaign when they finished bottom of their respective group. The Greek giants have started this year’s CL adventure in the second qualifying round, edging past Viktoria Plzen 4-0 on aggregate (0-0 A, 4-0 H). After overcoming İstanbul Başakşehir in the third qualifying round (1-0 A, 2-0 H), the Thrylos have beaten Krasnodar in the play-offs 6-1 on aggregate (4-0 H, 2-1 A). Also, Olympiacos boast an impressive recent home record against the Premier League sides, having outplayed the English visitors in five of their last six home fixtures.

After narrowly missing out on the CL crown the last term, the visitors return to the group phase, making their fourth consecutive CL appearance. The Spurs barely managed to go past the group stage last season (W2, D2, L2) before making it all the way down to the final where they lost 2-0 to Liverpool. Aside from a stunning 3-2 away win over Ajax in the second leg of the semi-finals, the London heavyweights have lost three of their previous four CL outings, two of which have seen them fail to find the back of the net. Additionally, the Lilywhites struggled to pick up a single win in the CL group stage last season (D2, L1), with all of those matches seeing both teams score.