In the final round of the Champions League qualification, Krasnodar will play against the Greek Olympiacos. However, even football experts, according to the live soccer scores, have difficulty predicting how strong an opponent of the Russian club will be.
Olympiacos is rightfully considered the most successful Greek club, having won 44 champion titles and 27 national cups in its history.
However, in the season 2017/18, this team for the first time since the beginning of the 21st century took third place and stayed out of the Champions League.
During this extremely unsuccessful season, the team changed five head coaches, some of whom had to resign because the players refused to comply with their requirements.
Therefore, the president of Olympiacos, based on the soccer live scores, had to decide on a global restructuring of the team, as he was convinced that the situation in the club could not be changed by simply replacing the coach.
This restructuring began in April 2018, when the team was led by Portuguese coach Pedro Martins, and a total renewal of the lineup began. In the summer 2018, Olympiakos parted ways with 30 players, in whose place 20 new athletes were purchased immediately.
During this global cleaning of the roster, the Portuguese specialist, who had previously achieved local success only with mid-level clubs, managed to establish a working atmosphere in the team and instill a recognizable style of playing.
The results of this work became visible already in the season 2018/19, when Olympiacos took second place in the Greek football super league and received the right to play in the Champions League qualification.
The restructuring of the team did not end there, since this summer the Greek club said goodbye to 13 players, in place of which 12 football players came.
It’s worth noting that all this restructuring, as a result of which 20 newcomers appeared in the first team over the past two years, cost Olympiakos only 18 million euros. After all, most of the players who enter the roster came to this Greek club for free.
What Estonia Esiliiga B teams should learn from Olympiacos
The selection work of the Greek club is a great example for the entire football world, including teams from Estonia Esiliiga B and other more powerful championships.
In addition, the quality of this selection work has already been proved by Greek football players - before the start of the official season, they first knocked out the Czech Victoria from the qualifying round of the Champions League, and then the Turkish Istanbul Bashaksehir, which includes such famous athletes as:
- Clichy;
- Robinho;
- Jemba Ba, etc.
Therefore, Krasnodar should not relax after a sensational victory over Porto, as they will fight not against the team from the Estonian Esiliiga B, but a serious club that would do everything possible to enter the Champions League group stage and will not forgive mistakes on the field.