Olympiakos V Bordeaux Betting: UEFA Champions League

Olympiakos V Bordeaux

Tuesday, 23^rd February – 19:45 GMT

Introduction

Arguably thee unattractive tie in the last sixteen draw sees Greece versus France as Olympiakos go in search of a vital first leg win in their native homeland against the reigning French Champions, Bordeaux. It is the French side who go into the first leg as the favourites to progress after an exemplary display during group qualification, valiantly fending off the challenge from Juventus & Bordeuax for top spot, stamping their signal of intent on this tournament in the process by finishing a competitive Group A in first place – Rather comfortably we must add – not losing a single game. Their opponents, however, scraped through to the knock-out stage by the skin of their teeth after a second place finish in a rather poor looking Group H, just behind English side Arsenal. They eventually finished five points clear of third placed Standard Liege but lost twice during the Group part of the tournament and are deservedly the underdogs.

This first leg is pinnacle, if not as exciting at first glance, as Olympiakos know fully well they must take some sort of first leg advantage over to France in order to stand any realistic chance of progressing into the quarters. Greece has been a notoriously tough place to visit in the footballing world as Greek sides tend not to give an awful lot away, especially cheap goals. That’s an important feature with Greek teams and it’s something Olympiakos need to master quickly in the first leg as they can ill-afford to let Bordeaux build up ahead of steam with a potentially killer away goal. Bordeaux will feel picking up an away goal will leave them in an ideal position to qualify for the last eight – the Quarter-Final’s – but we aren’t overly confident in them going all out for a crucial away goal, with perhaps a 0-0 suiting them down to the ground heading back to France for the return leg.

To Qualify

Olympiakos – 3.20 bWin Bordeaux – 1.40 SkyBet

Olympiakos

Champions League Odds: 200/1 bWin

The Greek champions will be hoping to emulate their best ever run in the Champions League when they entertain Bordeaux in the first leg in Greece. Were Olympiakos to overcome this French challenge then they would match their Quarter-Final effort of 1998/1999 when they eventually were knocked out by Italian side Juventus. What stands in front of them make look an easier assignment than most they could of got but Bordeaux posted the best record in the group stages, dropping just two points, so this is far from plain sailing for the Greeks and they will actually be the less fancied team to progress despite boasting far more Champions League experience than their last-sixteen opponents.

Olympiakos’ home form played a significant part in their qualification from a fairly weak looking Group H, one which consisted of Arsenal, Standard Liege & AZ Alkmaar, of which the latter two were Champions League novices. The Greek side maintained a 100% home record with three successive victories, conceding just the one goal in the process. However, while they did beat Arsenal in their very last group fixture, in Greece, it did come at a time when Arsenal had already qualified and so perhaps that victory is slightly misleading. It must also be taken into consideration that all three of their wins at the Karaiskakis Stadium were by a narrow one goal margin, two being 1-0.

Olympiakos’ result in Greece just about sums up how dull games in Greece can be especially in the Champions League as Greek teams don’t exactly go about their task with an ‘all guns blazing’ attitude but more in a conservative manner, which does lead us to believe that this first encounter between the two could be a dull, low scoring affair. Their style of play is very slow, with slow, patient build up’s and attacks built from the defence upwards. It’s not very attractive, but it’s proved very effective in the competition thus far – the proof is literally in the pudding.

While Olympiakos boast an immaculate record in Greece in the Champions League, they have come unstuck on a couple of occasions against their fellow Greek rivals, losing twice in eleven home fixtures back in domestic action against what can only be assumed is far inferior opponents to what they’ll be facing on Tuesday night. They have also lost two of their last four home games back in Greece which doesn’t exactly fill us, nor should it do you, with any great confidence. Then again they were sublime in their last appearance in front of their home fans, smashing a rather poor Levadiakos 5-1.

Bordeaux

Champions League Odds: 28/1 SkyBet 

The French champions, whom were one of just two teams to still remain unbeaten in the competition thus far, were handed possibly the easiest last-sixteen tie of the lot when Olympiakos were their opponents in a draw Bordeaux will have been chuffed to bits with. Despite winning the French Ligue 1 crown last season, Bordeaux weren’t one of the more fancied sides to win the Champions League at the start of the campaign, but, after an almost immaculate Group A display, many are starting to take notice of the biggest team currently in France and they could yet be this seasons dark horses.

Bordeaux not only set a blistering pace in Group A, what was a very competitive Group A it must be said, they are also leading the way back in France and currently hold a three point cushion over second placed Montpellier. This competitive Group A of theirs consisted of some of Europe’s elite teams, with Juventus, Bayern Munich & Maccabi Haifa making up the group of death. However, Bordeaux brushed aside the teams with a far greater worldwide reputation than them by nailing down first position with authority, finishing a massive six points above Bayern Munich who finished second. If that isn’t sublime form then we don’t know what is. 

A large part of their success this season, and that of the last, is down to their lethal striking force of Wendel, Chamakh, Gourcuff & Gouffran, with perhaps neither being household names back in England. All four, however, have been chipping in with plenty of goals this season, although only Chamakh of the name just mentioned has scored two goals in this seasons competition, which just goes to show that Bordeaux work as a team as they’ve had no less than seven separate goalscorers during their group games. However, it is their ability to carve open defences and create plenty of decent chances that sets them apart from all other French sides currently on the scene as the rest tend to play in a more reserved manner. Bordeaux, though, are always looking to score goals and have the fire-power up front to back this statement up.

While Bordeaux do like to keep to their attacking ways, they do score most of their goals back in France, and so, France, in front of what will be a capacity crowd at the Stade Chaban Delmas stadium, should be the setting where Bordeaux play their more adventurous football over the two legs and they might instead opt for a more tidy approach in Greece, looking to utilise this extremely well organised defence, one which kept two clean sheets during their three away group games, in order to perhaps knick a goal or two on the counter. They will know of Olympiakos’ strong home record in the competition and won’t want to play into their opponents hands and by putting men behind the ball they will frustrate their last-sixteen opponents who know they desperately at least a one goal lead to take over to France with them.

Match Verdict: Bordeaux to WIN – 2.63 Bet365

This should be a very close encounter between two teams who won’t want to show their cards too early, especially the travellers. Olympiakos will need to score at some point in order to lure Bordeaux away from their solid, stubborn shell-like play and that could be a lot harder than they think as their French opponents have only conceded one away goal thus far. We don’t think Olympiakos will havetoo  much success in breaking down this stubborn Bordeaux resistance and we instead have more faith in Bordeaux’s ability to punish the Greek side on the break, with the the wit & guile of Chamakh especially a threat, while the pace of Wendel will be dangerous for the Olympiakos defence. We feel this first leg tie is actually set up nicely for Bordeaux to snatch a first leg advantage and an away goal in Greece would almost certainly make them a safe bet to progress further.

Match odds:

Olympiakos – 2.88 Boylesports

Draw – 3.25 Coral

Bordeaux – 2.63 Bet365