Olympiacos v Anderlecht background

Olympiacos FC will be hoping for a similar home result against RSC Anderlecht to that which they achieved two seasons ago as they welcome the Belgian club 1-0 down from the first leg of their UEFA Europa League round of 32 tie.

Previous meetings
• Anderlecht midfielder Serigne Mbodji's effort midway through the second half settled matters in Brussels on 18 February.

• Anderlecht have met Olympiacos on five occasions in UEFA competition with the record W2 D0 L3 (W0 D0 L2 in Greece). Hat-tricks were scored in three of those games.

• In the second round of the 1974/75 European Champion Clubs' Cup, Rob Rensenbrink registered three times as Urbain Braems's Anderlecht beat Lakis Petropoulos's Olympiacos 5-1 at home.

• Maik Galakos scored all three of Olympiacos's goals in a 3-0 win in the return fixture – it was Olympiacos's first European hat-trick.

• More recently, Míchel's Olympiacos defeated John van den Brom's Anderlecht 3-0 away and 3-1 at home in the 2013/14 UEFA Champions League group stage, Kostas Mitroglou providing all three goals in Brussels.

• Olympiacos's record in seven matches against Belgian opposition is W4 D0 L3 (W3 D0 L0 at home).

• Anderlecht's record in 15 encounters with Greek sides is W6 D5 L4 (W1 D3 L3 in Greece).

• In addition, Olympiacos prevailed 1-0 against Anderlecht in a pre-season friendly in August 2013.

Form guide
• Olympiacos have won only one of their three European home games this season, losing the other two 3-0.

• Prior to a 2-0 success at AS Monaco FC in their final UEFA Europa League away match of 2015, Anderlecht were without a win in 13 European games on the road (D6 L7).

• Olympiacos have fallen at their first springtime hurdle in their last three European seasons, having last made it to the UEFA Europa League round of 16 in 2011/12. They have twice reached continental quarter-finals – the UEFA Champions League in 1998/99 and the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1992/93.

• Anderlecht succumbed 3-1 on aggregate to FC Dinamo Moskva in last season's round of 32 – they have not won in six springtime UEFA competition games (D1 L5) since a 4-3 triumph over Hamburger SV in the second leg of the 2009/10 round of 16.

Trivia and links
• The journey from Brussels to Piraeus is around 2,100km.

• An unused substitute in the first leg, Olympiacos midfielder Esteban Cambiasso can make his 100th UEFA competition appearance in this game.

• Midfielder Luka Milivojević joined Olympiacos from Anderlecht in September 2014, having won the league title in his only season in Belgium.

• Olympiacos's Iceland striker Alfred Finnbogason played in Belgium with KSC Lokeren OV from January 2011 to March 2012.

• Olympiacos goalkeeper Roberto and Anderlecht left-back Ivan Obradović were team-mates at Real Zaragoza in 2010 and from 2011 to 2013.

• Olympiacos are one of five sides in the round of 32 who qualified for Europe this season as domestic champions along with FC Basel 1893 (Switzerland), Galatasaray AŞ (Turkey), FC Midtjylland (Denmark) and Molde FK (Norway), though the latter have since lost their title to Rosenborg BK.

The coaches
• Olympiacos coach since July 2015, Marco Silva was a right-back, largely in the second and third divisions in Portugal. He made his name as a coach, leading Estoril Praia to promotion and then a fifth-place Liga finish, and Sporting Clube de Portugal to domestic cup success in 2014/15.

• Previously assistant coach, Besnik Hasi assumed sole command at Anderlecht in March 2014. Capped 47 times by Albania, Hasi moved to Belgium in 1994, the midfielder winning a title with KRC Genk and another with Anderlecht, where he returned after seeing out his playing days at Cercle Brugge KSV, leading the Purple-and-Whites to the championship in May 2014.

Penalty shoot-outs
• Olympiacos have yet to feature in a UEFA penalty shoot-out.

• Anderlecht have lost all three of their UEFA penalty shoot-outs:
L 4-1 A v FC Barcelona (1978/79 European Cup Winners' Cup second round)
L 4-3 A v Tottenham Hotspur FC (1983/84 UEFA Cup final)
L 3-2 H v FK Partizan (2010/11 UEFA Champions League play-offs)