Olympiacos vs Man. City: UEFA Champions League background, form guide, previous meetings

Olympiacos will be looking for a second home win in Group C as they welcome section leaders Manchester City to Piraeus.

• The Greek side are third in the standings with three points and are aiming to turn the tables on City, who were 3-0 winners in the reverse fixture in Manchester thanks to goals from Ferrán Torres (12) – meaning the summer signing has scored in all three games in this season's UEFA Champions League – Gabriel Jesus (81) and João Cancelo (90).

• That win against Olympiacos made it three wins from three in this season's UEFA Champions League for City, who are three points clear of second-placed Porto and travel to Greece knowing a fourth success would confirm their place in the round of 16 with two matches to spare.

Form guide
Olympiacos

• The Greek club kicked off the section with a 1-0 success against Marseille in Piraeus although those are their only points after subsequent defeats at Porto (0-2) and City.

• Olympiacos are in the group stage for the 20th time. In 2019/20 they finished third in their section behind eventual champions Bayern München and Tottenham Hotspur, picking up four points to finish one ahead of Crvena zvezda.

• Pedro Martins' side then earned a famous win against Arsenal in the UEFA Europa League round of 32, progressing on away goals after a 2-2 aggregate draw (0-1 h, 2-1 a), but came unstuck against another English club in the last 16, losing to Wolves (1-1 h, 0-1 a).

• Olympiacos played no fewer than six matches against Premier League opponents in 2019/20. After a 2-2 home draw and 4-2 away defeat – in which they had led 2-0 – against Tottenham in the UEFA Champions League group stage, they claimed that famous knockout success against Arsenal before being eliminated by Wolves.

• Olympiacos's record at home to English visitors is W7 D5 L5. They have won one of their last five matches against Premier League clubs in Greece (D2 L2).

• Olympiacos have lost only two of their last 16 home European fixtures, winning ten.

• The Piraeus club made it four UEFA Champions League play-off wins from four ties by defeating Cypriot club Omonoia this season (2-0 h, 0-0 a).

• Those results stretched Olympiacos's unbeaten run in European qualifying fixtures to 18 matches (W14 D4), home and away, since a 1-0 loss at Hapoel Beer-Sheva in the 2016/17 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round.

• Champions of Greece for the 45th time in 2019/20 – their first title since 2017 – Olympiacos also lifted the Greek Cup for the 28th time to complete their 18th domestic double.

Manchester City
• City have scored three goals in each of their Group C victories, opening with a 3-1 home defeat of Porto before 3-0 wins at Marseille and at home to Olympiacos.

• City finished second in the 2019/20 Premier League, ending the season 18 points behind Liverpool having won the title in each of the two previous campaigns.

• Josep Guardiola's side bowed out of the UEFA Champions League at the quarter-final stage for the third season running, going down 3-1 against Lyon in their one-off tie in Lisbon.

• City had finished first in their group with 14 points (W4 D2) before seeing off Real Madrid in the last 16, winning 2-1 away and at home against the 13-time European champions.

• This is the Cityzens' tenth UEFA Champions League campaign; they have been involved in the group stage every season since 2011/12 and have reached the round of 16 in seven successive campaigns.

• City have scored 44 goals in their last 16 UEFA Champions League matches; over the last two seasons their record is W16 D3 L3 with 60 goals scored and 22 conceded.

• Guardiola's team have won eight of their last 12 away European matches (D2 L2), both defeats coming in England; the last away game they lost abroad was at Shakhtar Donetsk (1-2) on Matchday 6 of the 2017/18 UEFA Champions League.

• City's best UEFA Champions League performance was reaching the 2015/16 semi-finals.

• City's only other games against a Greek club before Matchday 3 came in the 2010/11 UEFA Europa League round of 32, when a 0-0 first-leg draw at Aris Thessaloniki was followed by a 3-0 home win at the City of Manchester Stadium in which Edin Džeko scored twice in the first 12 minutes and Yaya Touré added a third in the second half.

Links and trivia
• Guardiola's Bayern München defeated Olympiacos twice (3-0 in Piraeus and 4-0 at home) in the 2015/16 UEFA Champions League group stage, Kostas Fortounis coming on as a substitute in both games.

• Pedro Martins' record as coach against English clubs is now W1 D4 L4, the sole success that victory at Arsenal in last season's UEFA Europa League round of 32 second leg.

• Have played in England:
Andreas Bouchalakis (Nottingham Forest 2017/18 loan)
Hilal Soudani ((Nottingham Forest 2018/19)
Yann M'Vila (Sunderland 2015/16 loan)
Rúben Vinagre (Wolves 2017–20)
José Holebas (Watford 2015–20)

• Pedro Martins coached Ederson at Rio Ave in 2014/15.

• Guardiola was Rafinha's coach at Bayern from 2013 to 2016.

• Have played together:
Ahmed Hassan & Ederson (Rio Ave 2012–15)
Pêpê & Rúben Dias (Benfica B, 2015–17)
José Holebas & Nathan Aké (Watford, 2015/16)
Rúben Semedo & Rodri (Villarreal, 2017/18)
Mathieu Valbuena & Benjamin Mendy (Marseille, 2013/14)

• Rúben Vinagre was at Monaco between 2015 and 2017, when Mendy and Bernardo Silva were also on the Ligue 1 side's books.

• International team-mates:
José Sá, Rúben Semedo & Rúben Dias, João Cancelo, Bernardo Silva (Portugal)

• Fernandinho and Rafinha played together for Brazil between 2011 and 2017.

Latest news
Olympiacos
• Kostas Fortounis and Hilal Soudani's next games in UEFA club competition will be their 50th.

• Olympiacos have won all seven home games without conceding in all competitions this season, keeping seven clean sheets at the start of a campaign for the first time since 1959/60 – their first season in UEFA club competition. They were 1-0 victors at home to Panathinaikos on Saturday.

• Olympiacos recorded their first away victory of the season on 8 November, a 2-0 win at OFI Crete with goals by Ahmed Hassan and Giorgos Masouras.

• Fortounis scored a 21st-minute winner on Saturday, Olympiacos's 18th goal this season and the first in the first half.

• Youssef El-Arabi is the joint top scorer in the Greek Super League this season with five goals.

• Strikers El-Arabi and Hassan have been sidelined by illness since 17 November, while Vasilis Sourlis has been out since 11 November.

• Mady Camara and Soudani both returned to action after illness on Matchday 3; Ousseynou Ba had been out due to a similar problem since 26 October, but was an unused substitute against Panathinaikos.

• Rúben Vinagre has been nursing an ankle injury since 6 November.

• José Holebas picked up a thigh muscle injury in a friendly against Atromitos on 13 November, but is now back in full training. Avraam Papadopoulos missed the Atromitos friendly and the Panathinaikos game with a groin problem.

• On 19 November, Mathieu Valbuena suffered a left hamstring injury that is expected to rule him out for up to three weeks.

• Lazar Randjelović made his senior international debut as a late substitute in Serbia's 5-0 UEFA Nations League win at home to Russia on 18 November.

• Fortounis scored one goal and set up the other on his 50th international appearance as Greece won 2-0 away to Moldova in the UEFA Nations League on 15 November.

• Camara scored his first international goal in Guinea's 1-0 home victory against Chad in 2021 CAF Africa Cup of Nations qualifying on 11 November.

• Olympiacos defeated AEK Athens 1-0 in last season's postponed Greek Cup final on 12 September thanks to an ninth-minute Randjelović goal – the last time they scored in the first half before Saturday.

• Seventeen-year-old Kostas Tzolakis, who kept goal in the Greek Cup final, has extended his contract until 2024.

• On 23 October Rúben Semedo agreed a new Olympiacos contract, also running until 2024.

• The pitch at the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium was relaid during the international break.

Manchester City
• On 19 November City announced Josep Guardiola had signed a new two-year contract with the club, running until 2023.

• City have taken 12 points from their first eight Premier League games of the campaign (W3 D3 L2). They were beaten 2-0 at Tottenham on Saturday.

• A 1-0 home win against Arsenal on 17 October was Guardiola's 500th as a coach; he has now recorded 175 victories with City.

• The Cityzens were beaten 5-2 at home by Leicester on 27 September, the first time they had conceded five goals at home since February 2003 against Arsenal.

• It was also the first time a side managed by Guardiola had conceded five goals in a match, in his 686th game as a coach.

• City, who have won the English League Cup in each of the last three seasons, will visit Arsenal in the quarter-finals on 22 December.

• Riyad Mahrez scored as Algeria drew 2-2 against Zimbabwe on 16 November to confirm their place at the 2021 CAF Africa Cup of Nations. He was also on target in a 3-1 home win against the same opponents four days earlier.

• A Ferran Torres hat-trick helped Spain to a 6-0 home win against Germany in the UEFA Nations League on 17 November, Rodri also finding the net as the home side reached next year's Finals.

• Also in the UEFA Nations League on 17 November, Rúben Dias scored his first two international goals, the second a last-minute winner, as Portugal won 3-2 in Croatia.

• Phil Foden scored twice in England's 4-0 home win against Iceland in the UEFA Nations League on 18 November, his first international goals.

• Bernardo Silva won his 50th international cap in Portugal's 1-0 home defeat by France on 14 November.

• Kevin De Bruyne scored his 20th international goal in a 4-2 home win against Denmark on 18 November that secured Belgium's place at the UEFA Nations League Finals.

• Sergio Agüero returned to action on 17 October having been out since 22 June with a knee injury. The Argentinian's penalty against Porto on Matchday 1 was his first goal since 4 March; that gap of 231 days between strikes is the longest of Agüero's career.

• Agüero started the 1-1 draw at West Ham on 24 October but was withdrawn at half-time with a thigh injury and has not played since, although he was an unused substitute at Tottenham on Saturday.

• Raheem Sterling missed England's recent internationals due to a calf problem, returning as a second-half substitute on Saturday.

• Benjamin Mendy (knee, out since 3 October) and Fernandinho (leg, out since 21 October) have both been on the sidelines.

• Nathan Aké, whose Matchday 3 appearance was his first since 17 October, limped off with a hamstring injury five minutes into the Netherlands' 1-1 friendly draw against Spain on 11 November.