Olympiacos v Juventus background

Olympiacos FC will look for a change of luck against Juventus when these old foes meet again in Piraeus on matchday three.

Previous meetings
• Juventus beat Olympiacos 7-0 in Turin when the clubs last met in the UEFA Champions League group stage, on 10 December 2003. It was the Bianconeri's joint biggest win in Europe and Olympiacos's heaviest loss.

• Gianluigi Buffon watched from the bench that night but did play in Juve's 2-1 away success at Georgios Kamaras Stadium in Athens.

• The lineups for that match on 30 September 2003 were:
Olympiacos: Katergiannakis, Pantos, Kostoulas, Antzas, Venetidis, Mavrogenidis (Gonias 66), Stoltidis, Karembeu, Djordjević, Castillo (Tatsis 75), Giovanni (Georgiadis 66).
Juventus: Buffon, Thuram, Legrottaglie, Montero, Zambrotta, Appiah, Davids, Tacchinardi, Nedvěd (Birindelli 89), Di Vaio (Miccoli 56), Trezeguet.

• Juventus have won five and lost only one of the clubs' eight previous encounters. They have yet to lose to Olympiacos on Greek soil, with two wins and two draws from four matches.

• Olympiacos's only victory over Juve – 2-1 in Palermo in the 1999/2000 UEFA Cup third round – was in a losing cause; they still went down 4-3 on aggregate.

Match background

Olympiacos
• Although beaten at Malmö FF last time out, Olympiacos have won their last four home fixtures in the UEFA Champions League – against SL Benfica, RSC Anderlecht and Manchester United FC last season and Club Atlético de Madrid in their Group A opener.

• Olympiacos's 1-1 draw with SS Lazio in the 2007/08 UEFA Champions League group stage was their sixth successive home game without a win against Serie A opponents.

• Their last home success against an Italian team was a 1-0 defeat of SSC Napoli in the 1979/80 UEFA Cup first round. Even then, they had lost the away leg 2-0.

• The Greek champions' home record against Italian sides is W2 D4 L4. Their overall record is W5 D5 L10.

Juventus
• Massimiliano Allegri's team beat Malmö on matchday one but subsequently went down 1-0 at Atlético. That defeat means they have now lost four of their last five away matches in the UEFA Champions League, drawing the other.

• Juve's overall record against Greek teams is W12 D4 L4. In Greece their record reads W4 D3 L3.

• It was at Athens' Olympic Stadium that Juventus lost the 1983 European Champion Clubs' Cup final against Hamburger SV (0-1).

Coach and player links
• Míchel helped Real Madrid CF overcome Juventus in the 1986/87 European Champion Clubs' Cup second round, the Spanish side winning 3-1 on penalties after a 1-1 aggregate draw (1-0h, 0-1a).

• Míchel's final match as a player in UEFA competition was a 2-0 defeat at Juventus in the 1995/96 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals (1-2 on aggregate).

• Patrice Evra played in Manchester United's 3-2 aggregate victory over Olympiacos in last term's round of 16 (0-2a, 3-0h).

• Evra was in the United side beaten 3-1 by an FC Barcelona team including Éric Abidal and last-minute substitute Ibrahim Afellay in the 2011 UEFA Champions League final.

• Abidal and Afellay also played together for Barcelona in a 2-2 home draw with Allegri's AC Milan in the 2011/12 group stage.

• Pajtim Kasami played 14 times in Serie A with US Città di Palermo in 2010/11, appearing as a substitute in a 2-1 home win against Juventus.

• Abidal was sent off conceding a penalty that Andrea Pirlo converted when Italy beat France 2-0 at UEFA EURO 2008. Gianluigi Buffon and Giorgio Chiellini (Italy) and Evra (France) also played.

• Abidal scored a penalty past Buffon in the 2006 FIFA World Cup final shoot-out; Pirlo also scored from the spot as Italy prevailed.

• Evra replaced Abidal as AS Monaco FC left-back in summer 2002 after the latter joined LOSC Lille.

• Stephan Lichtsteiner was on the winning side at Stadio Georgios Karaiskakis when Switzerland beat Greece 2-1 in a World Cup qualifier on 15 October 2008.

• Additional player connections:
Abidal and Alberto Botía played with Martín Cáceres (Barcelona, 2008/09); Kasami played with Kostas Mitroglou (Fulham FC, 2014) and with Lichtsteiner (Switzerland).

Match facts

Olympiacos
• Ioannis Maniatis is a booking away from a suspension after receiving yellow cards on matchdays one and two.

• Míchel's men recorded their first away league victory of the season on Saturday, prevailing 3-2 at Ergotelis FC thanks to Mitroglou's double and an Alejandro Domínguez penalty. 

• Olympiacos's 2-0 loss to Malmö followed a 1-0 defeat by Atromitos FC on 27 September – the first time the Piraeus side had failed to score in consecutive games since April 2012.

• Making his first international start since November 2012, Afellay set up Klaas-Jan Huntelaar for the Netherlands' equaliser against Kazakhstan on 10 October, was fouled in the incident that led to Baurzhan Dzholchiyev's dismissal and then made it 2-1 with eight minutes left.

• Jimmy Durmaz fashioned Sweden's leveller against Russia on 9 October and doubled their lead in the 2-0 defeat of Liechtenstein three days later.

• David Fuster (out since 23 September, left groin) returned to action on Saturday.

• Tickets for the visit of the Bianconeri sold out on the first day they were released.

Juventus
• Juventus's 13-match winning streak in Serie A was halted on Saturday by a 1-1 draw at US Sassuolo Calcio.

• Juventus recovered from 2-1 down to beat AS Roma 3-2 at home on 5 October. Carlos Tévez converted two penalties – he has scored eight goals in his last seven outings.

• The victory against the capital side, in which Juventus conceded their first top-flight goals of the campaign, was the Bianconeri's 22nd in succession at home in the league – a Serie A record.

• Andrea Barzagli is yet to play this term after undergoing heel surgery in the summer. Rômulo (groin) and Cáceres (thigh) are also sidelined.

• Chiellini scored twice and an own goal during Italy's 2-1 UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying triumph over Azerbaijan on 10 October. Leonardo Bonucci was sent off in the Azzurri's success in Malta three days later.

• Pirlo earned his 113th cap for Italy against Azerbaijan.

• Buffon (144 appearances) played against Azerbaijan and Malta, moving above Sweden's Anders Svensson into fifth place on the list of Europe's most-capped players.

• Paul Pogba scored for UEFA EURO 2016 hosts France in their 2-1 home friendly victory against Portugal on 11 October. The midfielder was then fouled for a penalty in Les Bleus's 3-0 defeat of Armenia.