Italian side Atalanta will travel to Greece this Thursday to face Greek footballing giant Olympiakos in the second leg of the 2021/22 Europa League knockout round.
Venue: Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium (Piraeus)
Key Statistics
Olympiacos last progressed from a two-legged affair with Italian opponents back in 1972/73.
The hosts have been eliminated from 14 of their last 15 two-legged European ties when losing the first leg.
They have won their last ten home games in all competitions.
Atalanta have won just one of their last seven competitive games (D3, L3).
They have lost just once in the UEL proper (W5, D3, L1).
Atalanta have won none of their last four European away games (D2, L2), despite scoring eight goals across those trips.
Head to head
The first leg was the first time both teams were meeting and Atalanta won that game 2-1.
Latest performances in all competitions
Olympiacos: W-L-W-W-W
Atalanta: L-W-D-L-L
Olympiacos
The Europa League returns to action in midweek as Olympiacos play host to Atalanta in the second leg of their playoff round clash at the Karaiskakis Stadium on Thursday.
Olympiacos quickly moved on from their first-leg loss result as they claimed a 1-0 win over Volos on their return to the Greek Super League last time out.
They head into Thursday’s game on a run of five wins from their last six games in all competitions and will look to keep this fine run going and overturn their first-leg deficit.
Olympiacos have turned their home turf into a fortress over the last two months, winning each of their last ten home games since November. And they will welcome Atalanta full of confidence that they can get the job done and progress to the next round where they continue their hunt for a first-ever European trophy.
Possible Olympiacos starting line-up
Tomas Vaclik; Kenny Lala, Kostas Manolas, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Oleg Reabciuk, Yann M’Vila, Bandiougou Fadiga; Andreas Bouchalakis; Henry Onyekuru, Tiquinho Soares, Giorgos Masouras.
Injured: Garry Rodrigues
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Atalanta
Having picked up a 2-1 lead in the first leg back in Italy, Atalanta will head into the game seeking to wrap up the tie and progress to the round of 16.
In the reverse fixture, twenty-nine-year-old defender Berat Djimsiti put on quite a show as he scored a second-half brace to hand Atalanta a 2-1 comeback win in the first leg.
Meanwhile, the visitors failed to consolidate on their first-leg triumph as they fell to a 1-0 loss against Fiorentina in Serie A last Sunday.
They have struggled seriously this season and the loss to Fiorentina highlighted their struggles as they have now managed just one win from their last seven games in all competitions.
Atalanta are currently fifth in the Serie A standings after picking up 44 points from 25 games so far.
Atalanta head into this encounter knowing that a draw will alone will see them progress to the next round. But Gian Gasperini will be keen to avoid an upset and is expected to name a strong squad as his side continue their bid to win a trophy this season.
Possible Atalanta starting line-up
Juan Musso, Rafael Toloi, Merih Demiral, Berat Djimsiti; Davide Zappacosta, Remo Freuler, Teun Koopmeiners, Joakim Maehle; Ruslan Malinovskyi, Mario Pasalic, Jeremie Boga.
Injured: Duvan Zapata, Aleksei Miranchuk, Luis Fernando Muriel, Josip Ilicic.
Doubtful: Jose Luis Palomino
Suspended: None
Prediction
Olympiacos 2-2 Atalanta
