Trivia - Olympiakos V Liverpool

(from BBC Sport)

Head-to-head

• Liverpool and Olympiakos have met before in the 2000/2001 Champions League when Olympiakos recorded a 2-2 home draw only to lose the return match at Anfield 2-0.
• The Greeks have only recorded one home win in five matches against English opposition. This sole victory came against Tottenham Hotspur in the 1972/1973 Uefa Cup: 1-0.
• Liverpool have visited Greek sides on three occasions, winning twice and drawing once.
• These two away wins came against AEK Athens in the 1972/1973 Uefa Cup (3-1) and against Panathinaikos in the 1984/1985 Champions Cup (1-0).
• Overall Liverpool have an unbeaten record against Greek sides in European competitions with five wins and one draw.
• The Greeks have a negative overall record against English sides, including one win, two draws and seven defeats.
• Moreover the Greek side have lost their last five matches against clubs from England.

European history

• Olympiakos' best ever European result was reaching the quarter-finals on two occasions.
• The first time they reached this stage was in the 1992/1993 Cup Winners' Cup when Olympiakos were eliminated by Atlético Madrid. In 1998/1999 they reached the last eight of the CL only to be eliminated by Juventus.
• Liverpool have won four Champions Cups (in 1977, 1978, 1981 and 1984). However, their best result in the Champions League was a quarter-final berth in their first ever CL season in 2001/2002.
• This season marks Liverpool's third CL participation after finishing third in the group phase in 2002/2003.
• Liverpool qualified for the 2004/2005 CL by beating Grazer AK in a two-legged encounter (2-1 on agg).

Current European form

• Olympiakos returned home from their trip to La Coruna with a 0-0 draw.
• Although they have never won a CL away match, Olympiakos have only lost three of their 22 CL home matches.
• These two CL home defeats both came at the hands of Manchester United. In 2001/2002 United won 2-0 and in 2002/2003 the Red Devils beat Olympiakos for a second time: 3-2.
• Olympiakos have won 12 and drawn seven of their remaining 19 CL home matches.
• Liverpool qualified for the CL main tournament beating Grazer AK 2-1 on aggregate.
• The Reds started off the 2004/2005 CL season with a 2-0 home win over AS Monaco, goals scored by Milan Baros and Djibril Cissé.
• Liverpool have only recorded two defeats in their 10 away matches in the Champions League: a 4-2 beating by Bayer Leverkusen in the 2001/2002 quarter-finals and a 2-0 defeat by Valencia in the 2002/2003 group stage.
• Whereas Piraeus have scored at least once in each of their last eight European home matches, Liverpool have netted at least once in each of their last 10 away matches in European competitions.

Player and disciplinary info

• Liverpool's Steven Gerrard will be suspended upon receiving another booking but he is injured for this match.
• Vladimir Smicer (three goals) Sami Hyypiä (two goals) and Milan Baros (two goals) are the only Liverpool players in the current squad to have scored more than once in the Champions League.
• Stylianos Venetidis, Pantelis Kafes, Giorgos Georgiadis and new acquisition Antonis Nikopolidis form the contingent of Piraeus players that were part of the Greek squad that won Euro 2004.
• Olympiakos' Rivaldo needs one goal to overhaul Mário Jardel as Brazil's leading goalscorer in the competition.

Other miscellaneous facts

• Liverpool trainer Rafael Benitez won the Uefa Cup last season with Valencia.
• Trainer Dusan Bajevic returned to Olympiakos at the beginning of this season after five-and-a-half years of absence, during which he coached Greek sides PAOK and AEK Athens.
• Liverpool are currently seventh in the Premiership, following a 3-0 home win against Norwich City last Saturday.
• Olympiakos recorded a 1-0 away win at Aris Saloniki on the second matchday of the Etniki Katigoria season.