Tuesday, 31 October 2017 20:45 Girona Time Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium The Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium (Greek: Στάδιο Γεώργιος Καραϊσκάκης[ˈʝipeðo karaiˈskacis]) is a football stadium in the Neo Faliro area of Piraeus, near Athens, Greece. It is the home ground of the Greek club Olympiacos F.C. and is named after Georgios Karaiskakis, a military commander of the Greek War of Independence, who was mortally wounded near the area. Previous Meeting Matchday 3 Courtesy of whoscored.com Team News 20-man Squad Ter Stegen, Cillessen, Ortolá, Semedo, Rakitic, Sergio, Denis Suárez, Suárez, Messi, Mascherano (without medical all clear), Paulinho, Deulofeu, Paco Alcácer, Jordi Alba, Digne, S. Roberto, André Gomes, Umtiti, Vermaelen and Aleñá FC Barcelona work out in the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium in Athens ahead of Ernesto Valverde’s team’s match against Olympiacos at 8.45pm CET on Tuesday. The game is the fourth round of the Champions League group stage and if the blaugranas win they could book their place in the round of 16. The session saw all 20 of the players who travelled to Greece take part which included the available first teamers as well as Adrià Ortolá and Carles Aleñá from Barça B. The squad completed their preparations for the game. Prior to the session, Paulinho became a father and the players all congratulated the Brazilian at the start of the workout. Also, Mascherano trained with the rest of the group despite not having been deemed fit enough to play. Prior to training, Valverde and Deulofeu spoke to the media.
Cruel. Very cruel. hehe First goal won't be very crucial. Oh wait! Bazz, that's on YOU! You made me do that!
Piqué suspended due to double booking on Matchday 3. Semedo enters carrying two yellows. Upcoming UCL fixtures: UCL-M5 (A) Juventus UCL-M6 (H) Sporting CP
Here's Sport's prediction: I also want to see Deulofeu and Semedo get starts. But I'm less sure about Paulinho filling in for Iniesta, it's not a bad idea, but I think Roberto gets the call, and I'd really like to see Alena get the start there, Denis could also work. So I will predict: --------MAtS --Mascherano-- Umtiti Semedo-Busi-Alba Deulofeu-Raki-Roberto --------Messi---Suarez Sub on Paulinho and Alena and Denis. Here's a fun interactive quiz about players who played for both Barca and Olympiakos: https://www.fcbarcelona.com/footbal...e-played-for-both-fc-barcelona-and-olympiacos
Nice story about Valverde from an interview with the woman who was his translator for 3 years when he coached Olympiakos. http://www.marca.com/en/football/barcelona/2017/10/31/59f78e7c46163f235d8b4676.html
So let's see: --------MAtS ---Masch-Umtiti Semedo-Busi-Alba Paulinho-Roberto-Denis -----Messi-Suarez Or Denis or Roberto could play more of a RW/Rt Attacking Mid role like Deulofeu does. Either way good lineup, surprised Deulofeu met the press with Valverde and doesn't start a second game in a row after playing well. Hopefully he subs in.
Sporting has the lead in Turin (OOPS IT'S IN LISBON, SO MAYBE IT HOLDS?) over Juventus 0-1, hard to see it lasting but would be a great result for us advancing in 1st place in the group.