Second friendly match for Olympiacos!

The “Red-and-Whites” continue their preparations for the new season in the Netherlands, facing Belgian club Leuven today (2:30 p.m.).

The Piraeus-based team kicked off their summer friendlies against Stratos Svarna’s Polish side Rakow, with Mendilibar experimenting with the lineup and drawing useful conclusions. The “Red-and-Whites” showed two sides to their game: they dominated the first half and created many scoring opportunities, which they failed to capitalize on, while in the second half, with a completely different starting lineup, they didn’t play nearly as well.

They fell behind in the 70th minute, but they pressed hard in the final quarter and were rewarded, equalizing with a magnificent direct free kick by Fortounis in the 85th minute and completing the comeback for a 2-1 victory in the 90th+3 minute, with the captain setting it up and Yaremchuk scoring.

Olympiacos will next face Dutch side Fortuna Sittard this coming Friday (July 17 – 7:30 p.m.), followed by matches against Ajax (July 18), Antwerp (July 24), and Alkmaar (July 25), before beginning their official Champions League qualifying campaign.

Zota Silva trained once with the rest of the team, but he will not play today, having been granted special leave because his wife gave birth; meanwhile, we will likely see Smailovic spend more time on the field. Retsos, who felt some discomfort in the final minutes of the match against Rakow, trained as usual and is expected to play.

All this is happening while transfer activity is in full swing for Olympiacos, with the deals for Stanic and Roca in their final stages, while Andre Luiz is heading to MLS.

On the other hand, Leuven remains a consistent presence in Belgium’s top division, having finished last season in 12th place in the standings, well clear of the relegation zone but also out of contention for European competition.

*photo source: olympiacos.org