Why Premier League winners Olympiacos’ European success is no miracle after Arsenal, Man Utd and Liverpool triumphs

OLYMPIACOS officially made history as the first Greek club to win a European trophy.

The Greek giants also became the first team to win a UEFA honor outside the top five world league competitions since 2011, after beating Fiorentina 1-0 in the Europa Conference League final at rivals AEK Athens’ ground, OPAP Arena.

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Many have understandably considered the success of the Piraeus ensemble a miracle, but there is much more to it than that.

The Greek Super League has been making headlines around the world in recent years for all the wrong reasons, due to fan violence and alleged corruption.

In turn, football fans around the world have unfairly dubbed Greek football with a series of unflattering nicknames such as “farmers’ league”.

But Olympiacos transcends the Greek championship and its recent history proves this, as it has managed to exit the group stage of a major European competition in 14 of the last 16 attempts.

Under the command of Evangelos Marinakis, who took over the club in 2010 and won 10 Super League titles, as well as four domestic doubles, the team has exited the group stage of a major UEFA competition 11 times in the last 13 attempts.

And all of this is under the Greek budget, at a time when Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Qatar and US money are dominating football.

Olympiacos has evolved into a European club that has also taken major scalps along the way, such as Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Atlético Madrid, Juventus, AC Milan and more.

All of the above also happened at the fiery Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium, which presents itself as a mighty fortress filled with passionate, loud and boisterous fans who have been the backbone of this club since its inception in 1925 and always demand nothing less than perfection.

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The Red and Whites have overcome a number of Premier League clubs along the way, not least Liverpool, who they defeated 1-0 in 2004 in their first European game, in Karaiskakis, just months before the Istanbul miracle.

Olympiacos overcame Manchester United, Burnley, West Ham and Aston Villa, while Tottenham, Chelsea and Wolves failed to win in Piraeus.

But no Prem club fought back against Marinakis’ club like Arsenal.

So far, the two clubs have won six times between them, and none of their previous 12 meetings have ended in a draw.

In fact, Olympiacos have beaten Arsenal three times at the Emirates, which is more than the Gunners’ home defeats to rivals Tottenham, who have only won twice in all their visits to that ground.

The Greeks have risen to prominence in Europe largely thanks to a series of milestones they have achieved in recent years, which have set new standards that have never been lowered.

Arsenal represent one of those unforgettable nights as they become the first English club Olympiacos have beaten away in 2015, following a 3-2 victory at the Emirates.

The Gunners also became the first Premier League club the port city’s team had eliminated in the knockout stages of a major competition in 2020, when they knocked them out in the last 16 of the Europa League.

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How it all began

But the night that really changed everything came in 2007 in Germany, when the pride of Piraeus finally won an away game in the Champions League after 10 years without success.

The little-known conquerors defeated Werder Bremen 3-1 at the Weserstadion and never looked back.

Olympiacos, however, for years were unable to match their previous best results, which saw them reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League and Europa League in 1999 and 1993 respectively.

That came to an end this year in the Europa Conference League, and they did it in style by eliminating Maccabi Tel Aviv from the round of 16 with the biggest comeback victory in the history of Greek football, winning 6-1 away after a embarrassing 4-. 1 defeat at home.

In addition to winning the title at Nea Filadelfia, Villa represents the latest milestone as Unai Emery’s side became the first Prem team to be eliminated by Olympiacos by winning both legs – a 4-2 at Villa Park and a 2-0 victory in the second leg. accessory.

But these milestones would not have happened without all the hard work the club has put in over recent years, with Marinakis – also owner of Nottingham Forest – adhering to European standards since taking the helm.

The impact of José Luis Mendilibar

Managers like Ernesto Valverde, Marco Silva, Pedro Martins and now José Luis Mendilibar have left pieces of their philosophy deeply rooted in the mentality, philosophy and character of the club.

Mendilibar has especially transformed Olympiacos in just three months and has already distinguished himself as the club’s greatest ever coach, ahead of past legends such as the aforementioned tacticians as well as Dusan Bajevic and Marton Bukovi.

The Spanish tactician brought his experience and winning mentality a year after winning the Europa League with Sevilla, but simply unleashed the best of the skills of all the stars he already had at his disposal, unlike predecessors Diego Martinez and Carlos Carvalhal.

Mendilibar found players like Kostas Tzolakis, Santiago Hezze, Rodinei, Vicente Iborra, Francisco Ortega and also Ayoub El Kaabi and let them play their game, implementing his own philosophy and, at the same time, restoring the necessary confidence to the team.

The Basque coach was also helped by the club’s biggest-ever transfer window in January, which saw the likes of David Carmo, Chiquinho and André Horta take things to the next level.

Veterans such as Giorgos Masouras, Youssef El Arabi and captain Kostas Fortounis have also maintained extremely high standards with their past experience of European success.

Star signings

The club’s structure has attracted a number of stars thanks to its own star quality, led by Champions League and World Cup winner Christian Karembeu, who has worked with the club since 2013 as an ambassador.

This led to the signings of Mathieu Valbuena, Esteban Cambiasso, Marcelo, Eric Abidal and Daniel Podence, who returned for another spell last summer on loan from Wolves.

The work Olympiacos have done behind the scenes was proven this season when the U19s became the first Greek club to win the UEFA Youth League.

Marinakis’ investment and support shown to the likes of Jose Anigo and Thomas Benedet, who ran the academies, as well as youth coach Sotiris Silaidopoulos, has also led to two league titles in the last two years.

There was method and logic to this year’s miracle, which coincidentally came 20 years after Greece’s stunning Euro 2004 triumph.

SunSport previously analyzed the Greek team’s triumph all those years ago, which bears many similarities to Olympiacos’ recent success.

Learning from Euro 2004 failures

And the Super League team will now have to avoid the same mistakes that have seen Greece decline and lose every major competition over the last 10 years, including the next Euro.

Olympiacos have been raising the bar for years and now it is higher than ever.

Thus, the demands have shattered any glass ceiling that existed and there is a huge hangover awaiting the club, who will not have to worry about the knockout rounds for the first time since 2015, as they have reached straight into next season’s Europa League.

Greece lost their first match after Euro 2004 in Albania and missed out on the 2006 World Cup, before failing completely after the 2014 World Cup.

Marinakis stated that these standards will be even higher, suggesting that the Europa League will be next in Olympiacos’ sights, and that is exactly what needs to be done to follow a game as difficult as last season.

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