Dinamo, Olympiacos upsetting the odds in Group F

GNK Dinamo Zagreb and Olympiacos FC have made Group F an intriguing section with their surprise results so far and both seek a second win on matchday three.

Previous meetings
• The sides have met on four occasions and the only one not to have been won by the home team was the last, a 1-1 draw in Zagreb in the 1998/99 UEFA Champions League group stage which confirmed Olympiacos' first – and only – qualification for the European Cup's quarter-finals.

• The lineups at the Stadion Maksimir on 9 December 1998 were:
Dinamo: Ladić, Tokić, Maric, Jurić, Mujčin, Rukavina, D Šimić, Mikić (Abramović 82), Šarić, Jeličić (Jurčić 87), Bišćan (J Šimić 69).
Olympiacos: Eleftheropoulos, Karataidis, Niniadis, Amanatidis, Poursanidis, Giannakopoulos (Alexandris 80), Gogić (Ofori-Quaye 85), P. Djordjević (Luciano 62), Mavrogenidis, Georgatos, Anatolakis.

• Joško Jeličić gave Velimir Zajec's Dinamo a first-half lead with Stelios Giannakopoulos equalising for Dušan Bajević's visitors.

• In the 1977/78 UEFA Cup first round, Dinamo won 5-1 at home and lost 3-1 away.

Match background

Dinamo
• Their victory over Arsenal FC on matchday one was their first in 16 UEFA Champions League group stage fixtures (L13 D2) since a 3-0 win at home to SK Sturm Graz on matchday three in 1999/2000.

• On matchday two they lost 5-0 at FC Bayern München.

• Dinamo have played eight games against Greek sides with their record reading W2 D1 L5 (W2 D1 L1 in Zagreb).

• The Croatian champions have never qualified from the group stage in their four previous attempts – 1998/99, 1999/2000, 2011/12 and 2012/13.

• In fact in all ten previous UEFA club competition group stages – six in the UEFA Europa League/UEFA Cup – Dinamo have yet to make it through to the next phase.

• The Zagreb team qualified after a 4-1 home win (6-2 on aggregate) in the play-offs against KF Skënderbeu.

• They were held 1-1 at home by both CS Fola Esch in the second qualifying round (4-1 aggregate) and Molde FK (4-4 aggregate, Dinamo win on away goals) in the third qualifying round.

Olympiacos
• The Greek side, in the group stage for the 17th time, lost 3-0 at home to Bayern on matchday one and two weeks later recorded a 3-2 win at Arsenal - their first victory in England at the 13th attempt and their first away win in European competition after six straight defeats.

• Before that, Olympiacos had lost five successive away games in the UEFA Champions League.

• Last season Olympiacos finished third in Group A, losing all three away games.

• They transferred to the UEFA Europa League and were defeated in the round of 32, losing 2-0 away to FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk ahead of a 2-2 home draw.

Coach and player links
• Paulo Machado spent two seasons (2012–14) at Olympiacos, winning two Greek Super League titles and one Greek Cup. He was a team-mate of Giannis Maniatis, Dimitris Siovas, Alejandro Domínguez, Leandro Salino and Roberto.

• Gordon Schildenfeld was on loan at PAOK FC (January-June 2013) and at Panathinaikos FC (2013–15).

• Marco Silva was in charge of Estroil Praia from 2012 to 2014 and Gonçalo's coach during that time.

• Have played together:
Alfred Finnbogason and Jérémy Taravel (KSC Lokeren OV, 2011)
Sebá and Gonçalo Santos (Estoril Praia, 2013–14)
Felipe Pardo and Eduardo (SC Braga, 2013–14)
Hernâni and Hilal El Arbi Soudani (Vitoria SC, 2012/13).

• International team-mates:
Qazim Laçi and Endri Çekiçi (Albania Under-21s).

Match facts

Dinamo
• Dinamo have only lost one of their last 48 games in all competitions – the reverse against Bayern on matchday two.

• The Croatian champions have not been beaten in the league since a 2-1 loss at NK Istra 1961 on 10 May 2014. Last season they became the first team to go through a Prva Liga campaign undefeated.

Olympiacos
• Luka Milivojević has completed the two-game ban he received for his dismissal in the second leg of Olympiacos's 2014/15 UEFA Europa League round of 32 tie against Dnipro.

• Olympiacos are the only team in the Greek Super League with a 100% record.

• Ideye Brown scored his first goal for Olympiacos in the 2-0 success at PAOK FC on 4 October and added another in Saturday's 4-0 defeat of AEK Athens FC.

• Manuel da Costa has returned to training, having sustained a meniscus injury and calf strain during the 3-1 win at Xanthi FC on 22 September. He was on the bench on Saturday.

• Felipe Pardo complained of calf pain during training on 3 October but returned as a substitute on Saturday.

• Domínguez returned on Saturday having been out since suffering a quadriceps strain on matchday one.

• Andreas Bouchalakis (26 August, left quadriceps) and Giannis Maniatis (11 March, right knee) are still out while Esteban Cambiasso suffered a calf injury in training on Sunday.