Olympiacos vs Bayer Leverkusen Preview: Team News & Prediction | 2025-26 UEFA Champions League | Knockout Playoffs
by Alex Lawes ·
Updated
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Olympiacos are aiming for a return to the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League with the visit of Bayer Leverkusen to Piraeus in southern Europe this week.
Kick-off date/time:
How to watch on TV: UK – TNT Sports / US – Cannot be streamed
How to watch online: UK – discovery+ / US – Paramount+
Olympiacos preview: Mendilibar’s Greeks
With former Sevilla boss Jose Luis Mendilibar at the helm, Olympiacos will believe they can be a real threat deep in Europe this season and the 2024 UEFA Europa Conference League winners do have some brilliant attackers to go with their tactical discipline.
The Greek giants come into this one on the back of a tricky patch of form, though, backing up a 1-0 loss at home to arch-rivals Panathinaikos by sharing a goalless draw with Levadiakos at the weekend.
Bayer Leverkusen preview: Improved Leverkusen
Kasper Hjulmand, who replaced Erik ten Hag early on this season, most recently oversaw a 4-0 hammering of St Pauli in the Bundesliga at the weekend, courtesy of goals from Jarell Quansah, Patrik Schick, Edmund Tapsoba and Ernest Poku.
That victory for the visitors means that they are now on a six-match unbeaten run of form across all competitions and they have been steadily improving throughout this campaign.
Olympiacos team news: Bakoulas out
Olympiacos are without Theofanis Bakoulas for this weekend’s visit of Leverkusen but that isn’t a massive deal and, aside from that, Jose Luis Mendilibar has a fully fit squad.
Predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Tzolakis; Costinha, Retsos, Biancone, Ortega; Hezze, Scipioni; Rodinei, Taremi, Podence; El Kaabi
Unavailable: Bakoulas (Injured)
Questionable:
Bayer Leverkusen team news: A few injuries
Bayer Leverkusen head to the south of Europe with some key injury absentees for this one such as Mark Flekken, Nathan Tella and Eliesse Ben Seghir all sidelined.
Predicted XI (3-4-2-1): Blaswich; Quansah, Andrich, Tapsoba; Vazquez, Palacios, Garcia, Grimaldo; Maza, Poku; Schick
Unavailable: Flekken (Injured), Mensah (Suspended), Tella (Injured), Ben Seghir (Injured)
Questionable:
Olympiacos vs Bayer Leverkusen prediction
The form of Leverkusen is extremely impressive as they try and fight their way back into the top four and the UEFA Champions League spots in the Bundesliga. Their 29 matches in Europe and domestically have consisted of 97 goals and that very high-scoring form may well continue here as Olympiacos try and exploit them on the counter-attack, albeit the visitors will believe they can score for fun at the moment.
Olympiacos vs Bayer Leverkusen Tip: Both teams to score
