Olympiacos's record winning league start ends

The longest winning start to a European league season this millennium has come to an end after Crete outfit Platanias became the first Greek side to take points away from a meeting with Olympiacos in 2015/16.

Marco Silva's men secured their 17th successive league victory last weekend, surpassing F91 Dudelange's 2007/08 mark of 16, but could not keep the run going on Monday evening. For the first time in the Greek Super League this season they fell behind, and though Kostas Fortounis equalised the visitors could not find a winner.

It is not all doom and gloom for Olympiacos, though. They can take solace from the fact that they are 16 points clear of second-placed AEK Athens, and they remain on target to become only the second team – after Panathinaikos in 1963/64 – to win a Greek title without losing a match. They are also still alive and well in the cup and UEFA Europa League.

There is comfort, too, for fans of quirky statistics: Crvena zvezda have won 19 in a row in the Serbian top flight and could yet end 2015/16 tantalisingly close to the European record for successive victories.

Longest winning starts since 2000
17: Olympiacos (Greece) 2015/16
16: F91 Dudelange (Luxembourg) 2007/08
15: Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine) 2012/13
15: Bangor City (Wales) 2010/11
15: FH (Iceland) 2005
14: Club Brugge (Belgium) 2000/01

Eusébio, Benfica's star during their winning run©Getty Images

All-time longest winning runs
29 – Benfica (Portugal) 1971–73
28 – Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia) 2006–07
25 – Celtic (Scotland) 2003–04
25 – Dinamo Tirana (Albania) 1951–52
23 – Malmö (Sweden) 1949–50
22 – PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands) 1987–88
19 – Crvena zvezda (Serbia) 2015*
19 – Bayern München (Germany) 2013–14
18 – FH (Iceland) 2004–05
17 – Olympiacos (Greece) 2005–06, 2015–16
17 – Steaua Bucureşti (Romania) 1988
17 – Dinamo Bucureşti (Romania) 1988
17 – Internazionale Milano (Italy) 2006–07

*Ongoing