Olympiacos v Young Boys background
Monday, November 7, 2016
Article summary
Olympiacos need only a draw to confirm their place in the UEFA Europa League round of 32 as they welcome Young Boys, for whom anything but a win spells elimination.
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Olympiacos are within sight of the round of 32 as they welcome Young Boys in Group B, the Swiss side knowing anything but a win in Piraeus will spell the end of their campaign.
• Olympiacos will qualify with a draw; Young Boys need a victory to stay in contention.
• APOEL are through if they win, and will qualify with a draw if Young Boys do not win.
• Astana must win and hope Olympiacos lose.
Previous meetings
• Esteban Cambiasso scored the only goal as Olympiacos beat Young Boys 1-0 in Berne in the clubs' first UEFA meeting on matchday one. It was Young Boys' first UEFA encounter with Greek opposition.
• Olympiacos's only previous matches against Swiss opponents came in the 1984/85 UEFA Cup first round, the Piraeus team prevailing 3-2 on aggregate against Neuchâtel Xamax after a 2-2 second-leg draw.
Form guide
• Olympiacos have kept only one clean sheet in their last ten European home games (W4 D2 L4), against Hapoel Beer-Sheva in this season's UEFA Champions League third qualifying round.
• Young Boys are without a win in seven European away fixtures (D1 L6) and have not scored in five of the last six of those matches.
• Olympiacos made it through to the round of 32 in their one previous UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League group stage, in 2008/09.
• Young Boys progressed through two of their previous three UEFA Europa League group stage campaigns.
Links and trivia
• The journey from Berne to Piraeus is just shy of 1,700km.
• Former team-mates:-
Óscar Cardozo & Miralem Sulejmani (YB) – Benfica 2013–14
Alaixys Romao (Olympiacos) & Yoric Ravet (YB) – Grenoble 2008–10
• Olympiacos forward Ideye Brown played in Switzerland for Neuchâtel Xamax from 2008–10. He scored four goals (and received one red card) in six Swiss league meetings with YB.
The coaches
• Paulo Bento was hired as Olympiacos coach in August 2016 following a brief interlude in Brazil. A player for Benfica and Sporting CP in his native Lisbon, he later won two Portuguese Cups as Sporting coach and was Portugal boss from September 2010 to September 2014.
• Adi Hütter took command at Young Boys in September 2015, having led Salzburg to a domestic double in his native Austria in his sole campaign in charge in 2014/15. He had spent the bulk of his career as a midfielder at the Salzburg club, returning as a youth specialist after retirement.