2007–08 Olympiacos F.C. season

Olympiacos

2007–08 season
Chairman	Socratis Kokkalis
Manager	José Segura
Super League Greece	Winners
Greek Cup	Winners
Greek Super Cup	Winners
UEFA Champions League	First knockout round
Top goalscorer	League: Darko Kovačević (17) All: Darko Kovačević (24)
Highest home attendance	33,500 vs Real Madrid (6 November 2007)
Lowest home attendance	14,544 vs Ergotelis (16 February 2008)
Home colours Away colours Third colours
← 2006–07 2008–09 →

The 2007–08 season is Olympiacos 49th consecutive season in the Superleague Greece and their 11th consecutive season in the UEFA Champions League. Manager Takis Lemonis left the club by mutual consent on 11 March 2008 due to the club's lower-than-expected performance of the team in the Superleague, and was replaced by his assistant, José Segura.^[1]

Squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Leonidas Panagopoulos 2 DF Christos Patsatzoglou 3 DF Didier Domi 4 DF Leonardo 5 DF Júlio César 6 MF Ieroklis Stoltidis (vice-captain) 7 MF Luciano Galletti 9 FW Darko Kovačević 10 FW Leonel Núñez 11 MF Predrag Đorđević (captain) 14 DF Michał Żewłakow 15 DF Raúl Bravo 18 DF Paraskevas Antzas 19 MF Konstantinos Mendrinos 21 MF Andreas Vasilogiannis

No. Position Player 22 FW Kostantinos Mitroglou 23 FW Michalis Konstantinou 24 MF Georgios Katsikogiannis 25 MF Fernando Belluschi 27 DF Konstantinos Lambropoulos 28 MF Cristian Ledesma 30 DF Anastasios Pantos 31 MF Aristides Soiledis 32 FW Lomana LuaLua 35 DF Vasilis Torosidis 71 GK Antonis Nikopolidis (vice-captain) 74 GK Tomislav Butina 77 MF Mirnes Šišić 87 GK Michalis Sifakis 92 DF Kyriakos Papadopoulos

Winter squad changes

In Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 77 MF Mirnes Šišić from Levadiakos 25 MF Fernando Belluschi from River Plate 4 DF Leonardo from Portuguesa

Total spending: €10,400,000

Out Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 8 MF Rodrigo Archubi to River Plate 16 MF Marco Né Released by Club 18 FW Félix Borja to Mainz 05 36 MF Giannoulis Fakinos Released by Club

Total income: €1,450,000

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 4 DF Vanče Šikov to Apollon Kalamarias 7 DF Georgios Galitsios to AEL 1964 13 MF Zsolt Laczkó to Leicester City 20 FW Lefteris Matsoukas to Egaleo 77 MF Leozinho to OFI Crete 88 MF Jahmir Hyka to KF Tirana

Current national players

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 2 DF Christos Patsatzoglou 26 (1) 14 DF Michał Żewłakow 74 (2) 18 DF Paraskevas Antzas 21 (0) 23 FW Michalis Konstantinou 45 (20) 25 MF Fernando Belluschi 2 (0) 28 MF Cristian 3 (0) 32 FW Lomana LuaLua 30 (13) 35 DF Vasilis Torosidis 10 (0) 71 GK Antonis Nikopolidis 84 (0)

• Appearances (Goals)

Club

Management

Position	Staff
Manager	José Segura
Assistant manager	Božidar Badović
Club doctor	Giannis Anagnostopoulos
Chief scout	Antreas Niniadis

Other information

Chairman	Socratis Kokkalis
Vice-Chairman/Managing Director	Petros Kokkalis
Technical manager	Ilija Ivić
Ground (capacity and dimensions)	Karaiskakis Stadium (33,334 / 120x80 m)

Source: Olympiacos FC article about Socratis Kokkalis and Olympiacos FC article about Karaiskákis Stadium

Competitions

Overall

Competition	Started round	Current position / round	Final position / round	First match	Last match
Greek Super Cup	—	—	Winner	31 October 2007
Super League Greece	—	—	Winner	2 September 2007	20 April 2008
UEFA Champions League	Group Stage	—	Round of 16	18 September 2007	5 March 2008
Greek Cup	4th Round	—	Winner	5 December 2007	17 May 2008

Last updated: 18 May 2008
Source: Competitions

Superleague Greece

Classification

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Olympiacos !Olympiacos (C)	30	21	7	2	58	23	+35	70	UEFA Champions League 2008-09 Third Qualifying Round
2	AEK Athens !AEK Athens	30	22	2	6	65	17	+48	68	UEFA Champions League 2008-09 Second Qualifying Round
3	Panathinaikos !Panathinaikos	30	20	6	4	44	18	+26	66	UEFA Cup 2008–09 Second qualifying round

Updated to games played on April 21, 2008.
Source: Super League Greece 2007-08
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head goals scored; 5) goal difference; 6) number of goals scored
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.
Head-to-Head: used when head-to-head record is used to rank tied teams.

Results summary

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
30	21	7	2	58	23	+35	70	13	2	0	32	9	+23	8	5	2	26	14	+12

Last updated: April 21, 2008.
Source: Super League Greece

Results by round

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30
Ground	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H
Result	D	W	D	W	W	D	W	L	W	W	W	W	D	W	W	D	W	W	W	W	W	D	D	W	W	W	L	W	W	W

Last updated: April 21, 2008.
Source: Olympiacos FC
Ground: A = Away; H = Home. Result: D = Draw; L = Loss; W = Win; P = Postponed.

UEFA Champions League

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Real Madrid	6	3	2	1	13	9	+4	11
Olympiacos	6	3	2	1	11	7	+4	11
Werder Bremen	6	2	0	4	8	13	-5	6
Lazio	6	1	2	3	8	11	-3	5

Last updated: December 11, 2007
Source: UEFA

Matches

All times for domestic competitions at Eastern European Time

Super League Greece

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Greek Cup

In the fourth round (round of "32") of the Greek Cup, Olympiacos faced Diagoras from Rhodes, who played in the Third Division. The latter were close to shock the champions who made it to the fifth round with a goal scored in the last minutes of the match. The next opponents were rivals Panathinaikos, who were crushed 4–0 by Olympiacos in an at-capacity Karaiskakis Stadium. In the quarter-finals, Olympiacos eliminated Iraklis 2–0 in the first leg and earning a 2–2 draw in the second. For the semi-finals, Olympiacos faced Thrasyvoulos, winning 2–3 away and 3–1 at home. Olympiacos then faced Aris in the final at the Kaftanzoglio Stadium, Thessaloniki, where they won the Greek Cup after a 2–0 win.

Fourth Round

Fifth Round

Quarter-finals

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Semi-finals

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Final

Greek Super Cup

Olympiacos added one more trophy to their long list. The 2006-07 Super League Greece Champions beat the 2006-2007 Greek FA Cup holders, Larissa, 1-0 at the Karaiskakis stadium on October 31, and won the Super Cup for the third time in their history. Kostas Mitroglou scored the winner on 39 minutes after a cross by Soiledis (coach Takis Lemonis decided to give more playing time to the younger players on the team) while Galletti missed out on an opportunity when his shot hit the bar on 81 minutes. The final attracted only 7,141 fans at Olympiacos' home, from which 7,030 were the supporters of the hosts.

Final

UEFA Champions League

All times at CET

Group stage

Olympiacos, in their 11th consecutive presence in the competition, were drawn into Group C with Real Madrid, Werder Bremen and Lazio. The Reds started their campaign with a 1–1 draw behind closed doors at the Karaiskákis Stadium against Lazio, but on the second day, Olympiacos made their first ever away win in the Champions League and stopped their run of 31 matches without a success on their travels with a 3–1 win over Werder Bremen at Weserstadion, turning the game around from 0–1. After, they travelled to Santiago Bernabéu Stadium as leaders of Group C, where they were defeated 2–4 to Real Madrid after a heart-breaking match in which the Greek team was playing with ten men from the 13th minute and was leading the score to the 68th with 2–1, turning it around from 0–1. Real Madrid scored their third goal in the 83rd, but Olympiacos came close to score many times during the last minutes of the match and leave Madrid with the draw, when Real secured the win with a last-minute goal.

In the return legs of the group stage, Olympiacos produced a determined display to earn a point against Real Madrid, in the goalless draw at the Karaiskakis Stadium, keeping alive the record of being undefeated by Real in Athens in four matches. The Reds moved a step closer to qualifying for the last 16 after coming from behind to defeat Lazio 2–1 in Rome's Stadio Olimpico, while on the last day, Olympiacos smashed Werder Bremen 3–0 in Athens, which ensured their place in the knockout stage of the tournament.

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Standings

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Real Madrid	6	3	2	1	13	9	+4	11
Olympiacos	6	3	2	1	11	7	+4	11
Werder Bremen	6	2	0	4	8	13	-5	6
Lazio	6	1	2	3	8	11	-3	5

Knockout stage

The draw for the first knockout round took place on 21 December, and paired Olympiacos with Chelsea. The two clubs had never met in the past. In the first leg in Athens, Olympiacos held Chelsea to 0–0, a score which left both teams content, Olympiacos because they did not concede a goal in their home and Chelsea because they kept a clean sheet to occupy the driving seat going into the return leg in London. Olympiacos, backed by deafening and frenzied support, refused to be overawed by their English opponents, enjoying the lion's share of possession and chances in a closely contested encounter. The Londoners failed to create one real clear-cut chance against their opponents and their manager Avram Grant said, "The performance could have been better. It's not a bad result. We didn't create a lot of chances, it's disappointing. But its hard to play here. They have good supporters and a well organized team."^[4]

In the second leg in London, Chelsea won 3–0. The Blues surprised the Reds and scored very early with their first chance. Olympiacos balanced the game, but the English scored again before the end of the first-half. At the start of the second-half, Chelsea scored for the final time after another error from the Olympiacos defence.

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Chelsea won 3–0 on aggregate.

Team kit

Supplier: Puma
Sponsor(s): Vodafone

Home

Away

Third

Fourth

Source: Olympiacos FC

References

External links

• Olympiacos F.C. official website
• Olympiacos F.C. on ESPN
• UEFA Champions League