Priske on Olympiacos clash: thinking of Sparta Prague, not Czech clubs

On the eve of Thursday’s game against Olympiacos in Piraeus, Sparta Prague coach Brian Priske said the team had come to Greece to win, not to fix the record of Czech clubs. Because of injuries, defender Adam Ševínský and winger John Mercado did not fly to Athens.

“I’ll be a bit selfish and think not about Czech football in general, but first of all about Sparta,” Priske said. If a win also improves the record of Czech teams in Greece, he added, that would be good too.

The Greek curse of Czech clubs

Czech clubs have long struggled against Greek opponents. In UEFA competitions they have beaten them in only one of their last 13 matches and have failed to win eight times in a row. Czech teams have never won in Greece, and in their last three games there (all at Panathinaikos in Athens) they drew.

Sparta themselves have struggled against Greek clubs too: in European competitions they have beaten them in only two of eight attempts. In Greece, Sparta have not won in four matches and lost three, always at Panathinaikos.

What we know about Olympiacos

Olympiacos became the first Greek club to win a UEFA competition, taking the Conference League two seasons ago, and this is their 16th consecutive season in the main phase of the European cups. Priske called the opponent strong: in recent years they have performed very confidently in Europe, have a high coefficient and are especially good at home.

According to the coach, the Greeks’ main strength is defense. They are superbly organized and play with intense, aggressive pressing. Since the arrival of new coach Imanol Alguacil, the team concedes few goals and often keeps clean sheets, but it also has a good attack and set pieces. “Tactically we have to play a good match, and then perform at the highest level,” Priske said.

The players can expect a fierce atmosphere: the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium holds more than 33,000 spectators. Priske played there five years ago as coach of Antwerp, losing 2-1 in the Europa League group stage, and beat the Greeks 1-0 at home. Now, he says, the opponent has a different team and a different coach.

Who is out and who is back

Ševínský, who captained Sparta in last week’s Europa League match against Lillestrøm, is out for several weeks. He had already missed Sunday’s league match in Ostrava. Mercado played the full match on Sunday but felt something in his calf, so he did not travel to Athens with the team. Peruvian João Grimaldo did not fly to Greece either.

On the other hand, Priske is pleased with the return of French defender Loïc Mbe Soh, who missed the last three official matches because of health problems. The 25-year-old joined Sparta in late August and has played six matches for the team, starting all of them. “The good news is that Loïc is with us and returning from injury,” the coach said.

Magnus Kofod, Ondřej Penksa and Emmanuel Uchenna are also out for a long time and are not even on the Europa League squad list. Captain Adam Karabec and Matěj Ryneš are temporarily out due to health problems.

Around Prague, based on reporting by prazsky.denik.cz