Olympiacos Piraeus vs Rangers prediction: EUROPE: Europa League – League phase betting tips on match 2024-11-06 17:45.
[p]After a tough start in the league phase of this season’s UEFA Europa League (UEL) – losing 2-0 at Lyon – Olympiacos have reacted well with victories against Braga (3-0) and then Malmö (1-0), leaving them just a point adrift of the top eight coming into the gameweek. That latter success contributed to a solid run of three wins from their past four competitive matches (L1). [/p]
[p]Last term’s Conference League champions are now therefore in a good position to push on and secure their place in the knockout phase of the competition. A victory here could prove crucial in achieving that, and three successive home wins in European action should have them feeling confident, as should their 100% record against Scottish opposition on Greek soil, though the last of those two meetings came way back in 1974 against Celtic (2-0). [/p]
[p]Rangers share an identical UEL record to Olympiacos this season (W2, L1), but start the round one place above them in the table thanks to a slightly superior goal difference, which was significantly boosted in their last outing in this competition when they smashed FCSB 4-0 at Ibrox. Their attacking form since hasn’t been as impressive however, with their three subsequent matches all being much tighter and eventually settled by the same 2-1 scoreline – albeit twice in their favour. [/p]
[p]The most recent of those victories came in the Scottish League Cup semi-final against Motherwell on Sunday, while Olympiacos had their domestic encounter against Panserraikos brought forward to Saturday (W 2-1) by the Greek FA to aid their chances here. That could hand a physical disadvantage to Rangers, who don’t have a great record against Greek opposition, winning only one of their eight such meetings (D4, L3).[/p]
[p]Players to watch: He’s yet to make his mark in the UEL for Olympiacos, but summer recruit Kristoffer Velde looks to be finding his feet with two goals across his past two games, with both strikes opening the scoring for his side. Similarly, Nedim Bajrami joined Rangers in the summer and has netted two goals in his last two matches, both of which came after half-time. [/p]
[p]Hot stat: Heading into the gameweek, only four teams in the competition have committed more fouls than Rangers (45). [/p]
[p][i]Written By David HÂ [/i][/p]