Will the Catalans shoot down the Greeks?

The Greek record champions have had a very weak start to the new season in the premier class. After two rounds of games, the visitors have only one point and no goals to show for their efforts.

Although they recently faced a top team in Arsenal, they had a good chance of picking up three points against newcomers Paphos from Cyprus. Read our preview to find out which Barcelona vs. Olympiacos Piraeus tip is the best in the eyes of Wettbasis!

The home side are favorites not only because of the Greeks’ mediocre performances, but also because of their clearly superior squad. In addition, coach Hansi Flick has fewer personnel worries than before.

With Lamine Yamal, Raphinha, and Fermin Lopez, three powerful offensive players are available again after recovering from injury. In our opinion, this more than compensates for the recent loss of top striker Robert Lewandoski. For the match between Barcelona and Olympiacos Piraeus at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, the forecast is therefore for more than two goals by the home team.

Barcelona vs. Olympiacos Piraeus AI forecast

Artificial intelligence estimates the difference in expected goals for the two teams at 2.21 in favor of the home side. The Barcelona vs. Olympiacos AI prediction therefore includes the odds for a home win, including an Asian handicap of (-2.0) for FCB.

Barcelona – Statistics & current form

The Catalans have not been convincing from a defensive point of view recently. This is easy to see from the fact that FCB have conceded seven goals in LaLiga in their last four games. By comparison, Barcelona conceded only three goals in their first five league games.

One area of concern is their own goal. With Marc-André ter Stegen currently injured and no longer considered the number one goalkeeper by coach Hansi Flick, Joan Garcia has also recently been ruled out. The Spaniard was signed from city rivals Espanyol in the summer for a whopping $25 million, but is currently sidelined due to injury.

As a result, Polish veteran Wojciech Szczesny is guarding the Barca goal, and at 35, he is past his playing prime. In his four appearances this season on the national and international stage, Szczesny has yet to keep a clean sheet, conceding an average of two goals per game.

Will both sides score?

In view of this, the odds on both sides scoring in the clash between Barcelona and Olympiacos Piraeus are particularly attractive. This has been the case in all of the Catalans’ last five competitive games.

In attack, however, Barca can once again call on Lamine Yamal. His importance to the team’s offense is evident in the fact that since the start of last season, he has averaged more successful dribbles per 90 minutes than any other player in the Champions League (4.5 – minimum 500 minutes played).

On top of that, Yamal has the highest success rate of any winger (57.7 percent) who has attempted at least 30 dribbles during the same period. The Spanish prodigy will also be the youngest player in this game, at 18 years and 100 days, to have already made 25 Champions League appearances!

Olympiacos Piraeus – Statistics & current form

The players from the port city have been inconsistent recently. After their defeat in the Champions League against Arsenal, they suffered another setback in the league against PAOK. At least they were successful in their dress rehearsal last weekend at AE Larisa, coming away with a win.

In attack, “Thrylos” relies primarily on Chiquinho. The Portuguese player is currently in good form, having scored three goals in the last four competitive games on the national and international stage. He also scored a goal in the last Champions League match against Arsenal, but it was disallowed due to a narrow offside.

Will Chiquinho strike again for Piraeus?

In light of this, the betting odds on him scoring another goal in the match between Barcelona and Olympiacos Piraeus are also attractive.

Furthermore, the attack is reliable from a collective perspective, at least in the Super League. This is not surprising – the team is of decent quality, and not just because of Chiquinho.

With Iranian Mehdi Taremi and Moroccan Ayoub El-Kaabi, Olympiacos has a number of attacking players who we consider to be of international caliber. In the domestic league, Piraeus has already scored 16 goals after seven rounds of play – the second-best record.

Mendilibar knows his opponents inside out

Spanish coach José Luis Mendilibar is also very familiar with Iberian soccer. Before joining Piraeus, he spent many years in this role in LaLiga, including at Bilbao and Sevilla.

However, as mentioned at the beginning, the attack still has room for improvement in the Champions League. Alongside Ajax, Olympiacos is one of only two teams that has not scored a goal this season. The Greeks have had 28 shots on goal without success, and only six (21 percent) were on target.

Barcelona – Olympiacos Piraeus Head-to-head record

FCB and the players from Karaiskakis Stadium have already met once during the group stage of the Champions League in October 2017. At that time, the Spaniards recorded a 3-1 home win, and in Piraeus, the two clubs played out a goalless draw.

Olympiacos has also never won against a Spanish team in European competitions, losing 14 of its 16 games of this kind (0-2-14). The only games in which they avoided defeat were against the team from La Coruña, against whom they drew 2-2 in 2001 and 0-0 in 2004.

For the latest edition of Barcelona vs. Olympiacos Piraeus, the bookmakers’ odds clearly point to another home win for the Blaugrana.

Barcelona – Olympiacos Piraeus Tip

The hosts are the clear favorites going into the match, and there is not much to be gained in Spain for representatives from Greece anyway. No team from the country has ever won away against a Spanish opponent in the Champions League.

Instead, 17 of the 21 attempts so far have ended in defeat (0-4-17). With Barca’s offensive personnel situation improving again, we don’t expect a shortage of goals from the home side. For this reason, in the clash between Barcelona and Olympiacos Piraeus, it is worth considering a prediction of more than two goals from the home side.

This is further supported by the fact that Barcelona will be looking to make amends to their fans. Their last home game against defending champions PSG ended in a 1-2 defeat. FCB have also scored at least one goal (58) in each of their last 22 Champions League games.

If the hosts score in the upcoming match, it would be their second-longest scoring streak in this competition. Only surpassed by a series of 29 games between November 2009 and March 2012, which was recorded under Pep Guardiola.

The Barcelona vs. Olympiacos Piraeus tip is also supported by the visitors’ recent decline in defensive performance. Piraeus has conceded five goals in the domestic Super League in the last four league games. As with their opponents, the Greeks’ defense has clearly deteriorated.