Following respective exits from the preliminary rounds of the Champions League, Olympiacos and Slovan Bratislava lock horns on Thursday evening in the first leg of their Europa League playoff tie.
The Greek giants suffered penalty shootout heartache against Ludogorets to drop down to Europe's secondary competition, while Bratislava have already overcome Lincoln Red Imps to get this far.
Match preview
Olympiacos have been able to channel all their energy into their European exploits with their Greek Super League title defence not due to commence until the weekend, and Pedro Martins' men first claimed a pair of 1-0 victories home and away to Neftchi Baku to set up a Champions League third-round tie with Bulgarian powerhouses Ludogorets.
The 46-time Greek champions failed to make their territorial advantage count in the first leg as they played out a 1-1 draw with their counterparts, and following a 2-2 stalemate on Bulgarian soil in the second leg, Mathieu Valbuena and Ahmed Hassan both missed their spot kicks as a third consecutive Champions League proper appearance passed them by.
Defeat to Ludogorets means that the 2021-22 season will be just the second time in 10 years that Olympiacos will not feature in the Champions League group stages, but they have reached the last 16 of the Europa League twice in a row, losing to Arsenal and Wolverhampton Wanderers at that point over the past two years.
A campaign without a continental group stage is simply incomprehensible for Martins' side, who have never lost at this stage of Europa League qualifying, but the confidence in the Greeks' camp will not exactly be sky-high before the visit of Bratislava.
Meanwhile, BSC Young Boys' greater European pedigree ultimately came to the fore against Slovan Bratislava, who had previously knocked Shamrock Rovers out of the Champions League qualifying stages before suffering a 3-2 aggregate defeat to the Swiss giants.
A first-ever appearance in the group stage of Europe's elite tournament has gone begging, but Vladimir Weiss's side dusted themselves down to overcome the Red Imps 4-2 on aggregate in the third round of Europa League qualifying, winning the first leg 3-1 and holding onto a 1-1 draw in the second with 10 men.
The Slovakian champions are far less experienced on the continental stage than their upcoming opponents, but they did manage to reach the Europa League proper as recently as the 2019-20 season and travel to Piraeus after a 3-1 league success over Zemplin Michalovce at the weekend.
With three victories from their last four in all competitions, it is fair to say that Weiss's men are the ones with the wind in their sails before their journey to Olympiacos, who will still be considered overwhelming favourites to avoid the trapdoor to the Europa Conference League.
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Team News
Olympiacos defender Ousseynou Ba saw red in the 86th minute of the second-leg defeat to Ludogorets and will serve a suspension this week, while striker Tiquinho Soares is also banned but is injured anyway.
Martins must also work around the absence of creative hub Konstantinos Fortounis - who is working his way back from a cruciate ligament rupture - while either Sokratis or Pape Cisse will deputise for Ba in defence.
The hosting manager will certainly ponder changes to his XI after last week's disappointment, with Kenny Lala and Valbuena - despite his penalty miss - both options for change, while Tomas Vaclik will also hope for some minutes in goal soon.
As for the visitors, left-back Lucas Lovat and attacking midfielder David Holman remain in the treatment room, but Weiss otherwise has most of his big-hitters raring to go for a clash of monumental proportions.
However, Slovan are somewhat depleted on the left-hand side following Vernon De Marco's sending off against the Red Imps and subsequent suspension, so Vasil Bozhikov may be pushed out wide.
Once again, Weiss rang the changes in the league in anticipation for Thursday's battle, with the likes of Ezekiel Henty, Joeri De Kamps, Jaba Kankava and Weiss's son Vladimir all likely to be reinstated to the first XI this week.
Olympiacos possible starting lineup:
Tzolakis; Lala, Semedo, Cisse, Reabciuk; M'Vila, Camara, Bouchalakis, Valbuena, El Arabi, Masouras
Slovan Bratislava possible starting lineup:
Chovan; Pauschek, Kashia, Krizan, Bozhikov; Kankava, De Kamps; Ratao, Weiss, Zmrhal; Henty
We say: Olympiacos 2-0 Slovan Bratislava
A trip to Olympiacos may prove to be a bridge too far for Bratislava, who will aim to keep the scoreline as respectable as possible before trying to turn things around in the second leg.
That is not to say that a shock result is totally off the cards, but the Greek champions will come out all guns blazing in a bid to avoid more continental failure and should claim a convincing win on home soil.
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