Nantes head into their final match of the Europa League group stage in need of a victory on Thursday at Karaiskakis Stadium versus Olympiacos to have any hope of advancing into the knockout round.
The Greeks have just two points after five matches eliminating them from the competition, while Les Canaris are a point back of Qarabag for second in Group G after defeating the Azerbaijani side 2-1 on matchday five.
Match preview
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For the first time in over a decade, Thrylos will not be taking part in the knockout portion of the Europa League in what has been a rough campaign for them to date.
Making it this far into the tournament was a struggle for them, as they squeaked by both Slovan Bratislava and Apollon on penalties in the qualification stages just to get to this point.
It seems as though all of those matches have taken a toll on them, as they have looked tired and unorganised in their group-stage affairs.
Conceding the winning goal versus Nantes (2-1) on matchday one appeared to take the wind out of their sails as they find themselves in danger of going winless in the group stage of a European competition for the first time since the 2017-18 Champions League.
The return of Michel as manager has not transformed their fortunes in Europe, in fact, quite the contrary, as they went goalless in his first two group games at the helm and conceded an equaliser in injury time versus Freiburg on matchday five, drawing the Germans 1-1.
Olympiacos have lost four of their last five meetings against French clubs in all European competitions, with their last triumph versus a Ligue 1 opponent coming in the 2020-21 Champions League group stage over Marseille (1-0).
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While the Greeks have crumbled in the latter stages of their group fixtures, Nantes have rescued themselves in the nick of time, earning six points thanks to a pair of injury-time strikes.
Despite keeping their hopes of a knockout stage appearance alive, Nantes will have to do something they have not done so far in this season's competition, win a match away from home.
Les Canaris have yet to win an away game since the 2022-23 campaign began, scoring a goal or fewer in each of their road matches in all competitions.
La Maison Jaune are winless in seven successive European road fixtures dating back to the 2001-02 Champions League, failing to score in their two away defeats in Group G this season versus Qarabag (3-0) and Freiburg (2-0).
Scoring goals on the road in Europe has been a problem for Antoine Kombouare's men, and preventing them has been as well, with his side maintaining only one clean sheet in their last 17 matches in all competitions, conceding 32 goals over that stretch.
They are unbeaten in their last four matches played against Greek opponents in European club tournaments, winning the previous three such encounters against Greek Super League teams.
Team News
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Youssef El-Arabi is the only Olympiacos player to score in the group stage, as Nantes midfielder Samuel Moutoussamy notched an own goal for them on matchday one, while Alexandros Paschalakis picked up a clean sheet domestically on Sunday in his side's 2-0 win over Lamia.
Ousseynou Ba will be suspended for this encounter after receiving a second yellow in stoppage time versus Freiburg, while James Rodriguez has yet to feature in this season's competition since joining this team from Al-Rayyan in Qatar.
There were wholesale changes made to the Olympiacos starting 11 from matchday four to five, with Paschalakis, Andreas Ntoi and Pep Biel being the only players to keep their place in the opening lineup on both occasions.
Ignatius Ganago notched the winner for Nantes in the dying stages of their victory over Qarabag, with the other strike coming courtesy of Ludovic Blas, while Evann Guessand had the decisive goal in injury time in their previous win versus Erythrolefki with Mostafa Mohamed scoring in the opening half.
Kader Bamba missed their match against Clermont through suspension, but he will be eligible to return for this encounter on Thursday.
Kombouare made three changes to his Europa League lineup versus Qarabag as Jean-Charles Castelletto, Moutoussamy and Moses Simon replaced Nicolas Pallois, Moussa Sissoko and Bamba in the starting 11.
Olympiacos possible starting lineup:
Paschalakis; Vrousai, Retsos, Ntoi, Pipa; Masouras, Kunde, Valbuena; Rodriguez; El-Arabi, Biel
Nantes possible starting lineup:
Lafont; Corchia, Pallois, Girotto, Merlin; Sissoko, Chirivella; Guessand, Blas, Appiah; Ganago
We say: Olympiacos 0-0 Nantes
They may be in contention to advance, but we anticipate Nantes will have a tough time getting through a Greek team who might slow the game down to a snail's pace and frustrate a side who, just like Olympiacos, have been poor in the attacking third.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Joel Lefevre
