Olympiacos vs. Bayer Leverkusen Champions League preview: Team news and predicted lineups

Here’s our preview for the clash between Olympiacos and Bayer Leverkusen in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League’s preliminary knockout round.

Bayer 04 Leverkusen will be looking to avenge the 2-0 defeat they suffered to Olympiacos around a month ago when the sides meet again in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League knockout round play-off at the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium on Wednesday night.

“We’re hoping for a better start tomorrow than in last month’s clash. It was our last defeat to date. We’re aiming for a top performance and are ready for the first of two important games,” said Bayer Leverkusen coach Kasper Hjulmand at the pre-match press conference.

“We’re now familiar with the atmosphere, which can be an advantage,” added captain Robert Andrich. 

“It’ll be another difficult game. We had some great chances in the league clash that we didn’t capitalise on. That contributed to the course of the game.”

Die Werkself can draw confidence from their strong run of form since that loss in Greece. They are unbeaten in six matches across all competitions, recording five wins and one draw.

Most recently, Kasper Hjulmand’s troops stormed to an emphatic 4-0 victory at home against FC St. Pauli in the Bundesliga.

Olympiacos, by contrast, have endured a less convincing build-up. The Greek champions are winless in their last two domestic fixtures and were held to a disappointing 0-0 draw by Levadiakos at the weekend.

Team news and predicted lineups:

Long-term injured Konstatinos Angelakis and Theofanis Bakoulas remain out for Olympiacos, while Eliesse Ben Seghir, Mark Flekken and Nathan Tella are sidelined for Leverkusen.

Click here to see our predicted lineups for Olympiacos vs. Bayer Leverkusen.