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Heja, so i read they closed off the airport. I'm pretty new to the fandom, so I wanted to ask if any fans will still be waiting to see and thank the players somewhere today. It said they will get in the team bus on the airport, do we know where they're going - will they go their separate ways immediately, or will the bus go to some training grounds/to Signal Iduna Park? If any fans in Dortmund are planning something to greet or thank the players for, no matter the last game, an amazing CL run that made us dream big, please let me know šš¤
SUMMARY: UEFA has constantly fed referee crews from countries with a high degree of corruption into important Real Madrid CL knockout stage games. These referees and linesmen, mostly from low level Eastern European countries, have cheated on behalf of Real Madrid for nearly a decade. - Real Madrid is in financial trouble. The costs of the stadium renovation are spiraling out of control (ā¬1.76bn and counting instead of ā¬550m planned). Higher interest rates have made Realās debt (ā¬1.6bn) unsustainable. Real can not afford to be knocked out of the Champions League early.
- UEFA assigns referee crews from countries with a high probability of corruption to important Real Madrid knockout stage games. Most commonly used are referee crews from Eastern Europe, followed by Italy. Scandinavian referee teams have not been assigned.
- For no good reason the referee crews are assigned weeks in advance by UEFA. This leaves enough time for Real to contact, influence and bribe referee crews.
- Due to the nature of the soccer game (few big moments decide games) and the vague and clumsy rulebook the impact of the referee crew is huge. Offside in particular is a complete mess: The Linesman might or might not wave the flag, the Referee might or might not stop play, the VaR might or might not overrule.
- The last 4 knockout stage duels featuring Real Madrid and German Teams (3x Bayern, 1x Leipzig) have all been manipulated. āOffsideā has been the main tool.
- The Linesmen situation is incomprehensible. They are not well known and not well paid. It is not even easy to figure out which side of the field they operated on. Yet these Linesmen, who in some cases may earn ā¬50 a game working in their low level home league, regularly have been the difference maker with ā¬50m or more on the line in early stage knockout games. Linesmen have misused their huge impact to swing at least 5 goals towards Real Madrid in the 4 duels mentioned above (Lewandowski 2017, 2x Ronaldo 2017, Sesko 2024, De Ligt 2024). The probability of these events (skewed referee crew assignments, mistakes and rule violations in games) occuring randomly over the course of a decade is zero.
- There is no UEFA mechanism to systematically and transparently analyze referee crew decisions after the game. Compare that to the NBA: Even though the impact of the referee team is multiple times lower than in soccer, the NBA doesnāt post referee teams until gameday and issues a report to analyze critical decisions afterwards.
UEFA Assignments of referee crews to Real Madrid CL Knockout stage games (2015-2024, 51 games) 20 x Eastern Europe
10 x Italy
0 x Scandinavia
Ranking of Champions League Countries using the Corruption Index Tier 1:
Scandinavia (Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway) Tier 2: Switzerland, Netherlands, Germany Tier 3: Belgium, France, UK
Tier 4: Portugal, Spain,
Italy Tier 5: Slovenia, Poland, Slovakia Tier 6: Hungary, Bosnia, Serbia, Turkey Wrong incentives and bad intentions within the rotten core (UEFA, Real) of the Champions League have led to a degradation in the quality of refereeing in general. Itās not the best referee teams that are selected. The referee crews working UEFA games are picked for different reasons.
UEFA Referee Committee The extreme skew in assigning referee crews to games starts with the UEFA Referee Committee itself: The Chair is from Italy (Roberto Rosetti), 3 of the 4 Officers are from Spain (Carlos Carballo) and Eastern Europe (Dagmar Damkova, Czechia and Vladimir Sajn, Slovenia).
These UEFA referee crew pickers have ignored in excess of 80% of eligible referees all European Countries have put on the relevant FIFA list. Unsurprisingly 8 of the 14 most heavily used referee crews in this yearās Champions League are from Eastern Europe and Italy/Spain.
UEFA selects referee crews Real Madrid got the best handle on. The weakest link are Linesmen.
It gets even better: Rosetti, Carballo, Damkova and Sajn will also pick referees for
EURO 2024.
some important Real Madrid Knockout stage CL Games / Eastern European Linesmen: 2016 Round of 16 AS Roma - Real Madrid Linesmen: Slysko (Slovenia), Wilczek (Czechia) Referee: Kralovec (Czechia)
2017 Quarter-Final Real Madrid ā Bayern MĆ¼nchen Linesmen: Ring (Hungary), Toth (Hungary) Referee: Kassai (Hungary)
2018 Semifinal Real Madrid ā Bayern MĆ¼nchen Linesmen: Duran (Turkey), Ongun (Turkey) Referee: Cakir (Turkey)
2018 Final Real Madrid ā Liverpool FC Linesmen: Ristic (Serbia), Durdevic (Serbia) Referee: Mazic (Serbia)
2024 Round of 16 RB Leipzig ā Real Madrid Linesmen: Ibrisimbegovic (Bosnia), Beljo (Bosnia) Referee: Peljto (Bosnia)
2024 Semifinal Real Madrid ā Bayern MĆ¼nchen Linesmen: Listkiewicz (Poland), Kupsik (Poland) Referee: Marciniak (Poland)
The linesmen in particular are unfit to work games of this magnitude in general. From a Champions League perspective: These are amateurs. Usually they work in very low level local leagues, refereeing in front of 2.500 visitors. Some countries they come from have a GDP per person and month under ā¬1.000. They may work full time in a different job that has nothing (or too much) to do with soccer. For the most part these Linesmen also stay anonymous. No matter how big the mistake or rule violation they committed: In recaps they are referred to not by name, itās āthe linesmanā. Crooked UEFA also wonāt care. Theyāll be there next time again.
The main underlying reason they got assigned to these games: To cheat on behalf of Real Madrid
The impact from all referee, linesman and VaR mistakes and rule violations on both sides over its last 50 knockout stage games has been worth a net 20 goals for Real Madrid. Mistakes and rule violations have made the difference in a net 8 of the 23 knockout stage duels Real Madrid āwonā from 2015-2024. With fair and proper refereeing, Real Madrid would not have won at least 2 of the CL titles awarded by UEFA over that time period. Financially, the Linesmen and Referees have swung close to 200 Million ā¬uro towards Real. Best of Real Madrid Cheating 2017 Real - Bayern 1-2 (4-2 aET) Lewandowski (Bayern) was whistled back incorrectly for offside all alone in front of goal. Ronaldo (Real) scored from an offside position after using his arm to stop the ball (2-2), and later added another offside goal (3-2). Bayern played extra time short-handed after Vidal got a Red Card playing the ball.
2024 Real - Bayern 2-1 A Linesman prematurely and incorrectly signalled offside just before De Ligt (Bayern) scored (2-2), with the referee being complicit by immediately blowing his whistle. They had practiced this maneuver on Davies (Bayern). A few minutes earlier, in a similar situation on the other side, the referee crew let play continue to allow Joselu (Real) to score.
Red Cards (2015-2024) Teams playing Real Madrid: 8 Real Madrid players: 2
VƔzquez (2016 v ManCity), Ramos (2016 v AtlƩtico), Casemiro (2017 v Bayern), Ramos (2018 v Liverpool) should all have been sent off in critical moments of close knockout games.
Itās all just a Joke In a 2016 game, Ronaldo (Real) caught a cross that was high with both hands and threw it into the goal. After seeing it, the linesman signalled āOffsideā. Ronaldo didnāt even get a Yellow Card.
Referee crew for the Champions League Final 2024 (Real Madrid - Borussia Dortmund) Referee: Slavko VinÄiÄ (Slovenia) Linesmen: Tomaž KlanÄnik and Andraž KovaÄiÄ (Slovenia)
Slavko VinÄiÄ was arrested at a Serb/Bosnian Mafia party in 2020. Q&A probability
You lost me when you said probability is zero. What exactly does it mean and show? Say you had to assign a referee 30 times in a row, and chose Eastern European/Italians (countries from the bottom of the corruption ranking) with a probability of 70%, and Scandinavian referees from the top 30%. There is a probability of 0,002% to get to the 30-0 distribution that actually happened. So thatās the first zero.
Then these referees messed up the games big time, with the net effect in every single critical instance favoring Real. At least 8 times these violations made the difference for Real, and zero times for the other team. A sequence like that has a probability of 0,4%. Thatās the next zero. And you basically have to multiply these 2 zeros (assignments, outcome) to get to the probability of this chain of events.
You could also look at red cards. Real got 2 over these 50 games, but both didnāt matter as the games were already decided. We identified at least 4 no-doubter red cards Real should have gotten in crucial moments, with some āmaybeāsā (like Vinicius 2024) on top. There were 8 red cards issued against teams playing Real. Red cards another zero.
Taken together, the rule violations and mistakes had a net worth of 20 goals for Real. It should be zero, if referees are fair and unbiased. 20 goals is enourmos. Thats 0.4 goals per game, which is basically the expected goal value Leroy Sane produces. And as in some games nothing (needed) to happen, in other critical games the referees/linesmen impacted the game like a Lionel Messi playing as a 12th man for Real Madrid.
None of this is possible by chance. Itās cheating, proven by data basically 3 times over.
Also look at it from a practical viewpoint. Just 2 weeks ago, Eastern European Referees (who due to the low level of their home leagues and high probability of corruption should probably not be there in the first place) messed up the semifinal for Real. Thats after Eastern European Referees messed up the round of 16 for Real earlier this season.
No sensible, clean organization picks another Eastern European Crew, this time by all accounts featuring a serb/bosnian mafia guy, to referee in a CL Final next.
We mentioned the NBA, a true professional league. If they were asked to create a scenario in which the referee crew would have the same impact and level of competence as the Eastern Europeans for the CL Final, they would need to fly in a Sinaloa gang to referee the final minute of a tied game 7 of the NBA Finals.
PS: NBA would not do that.
An additional note regarding the UEFA Referee Committee:
The husband of one of its Officers, Damkova (Czechia), is Roman Berbr. In 2023 he was charged with soccer match fixing and embezzlement, being the ring leader of an Eastern European Gang. UEFA and Real are criminals, cheating right in front of our eyes. And with the Champions League Final and EURO 2024 coming up, it is worse than it has ever been.
To get the whole picture, you have to look at the data yourself. Don't jump to any conclusion. Forget about the comments. Dont even read the comments ! People will tell you what just popped into their minds. It's mostly noise and emotions. But nobody even remembers what he ate 2 days ago, let alone what happened over a decade in 50 Real Madrid CL games. So please look at the main actors (Ceferin at UEFA, Perez at Real), the referee committee (Rosetti, Carballo from Italy,Spain and Sajn, Damkova with her husband Roman Berbr from Eastern Europe), the Eastern European linesmen and referees that got appointed, and what they did in these 50 Real Madrid knockout stage games over the last decade, yourself. KBO would be $950 as I would be buying two of them, where the Lectric is $1299.
They seem to be pretty similar and the Xpress has CL licensing now which from what I read was a big concern with past models.
Just hoping for some communication and conversation from some people who know a lot more than I do about ebikes.
Thanks in advance!
The 29th of May 2024 in OPAP Arena (colloquially
Hagia Sophia Stadium), the 2023-24 Olympiacos squad entered the club's history by winning the Conference League and becoming the first Greek club to add a European trophy in its collection at senior level (after doing the same at Youth Level a few weeks ago)!
Brief history lesson for the class: Olympiacos is historically the emperor of Greek football.
47 league titles vs
41 for every other team
combined speaks for itself. But European glory has always been the club's white whale, the goal that was never scored, the one thing missing from the club's myth. There are many reasons for this oddity:
- a mentality that "the 1st is everything and the rest are nothing" which led to trophy hunting always being prioritized over deep European runs.
- a team which usually played without much focus or investment in defense (Giovanni and Rivaldo up front, Anatolakis CB is a great example) because its main objective was to break down park-the-bus Greek defenses.
- the club never had the stars align in Europe (which is also needed if you aren't a big league club).
Europe was the only lifeline of Olympiacos' enemies in years of red and white domestic rule: they had memorable moments from Europe that Olympiacos didn't. They also used it as an argument that Olympiacos' local dominance is based on corruption and in Europe, where there is real refereeing etc., the true strength of the club shows.
Zooming in the last years: Marinakis bought the club in 2010 and immediately achieved domestic domination. He brought back Ernesto Valverde, whose football philosophy affects Olympiacos until today, and the club stated regulary getting 9 and 10 points in CL until 2016. A combination of reasons led to a decline of quality and 2 lost titles until Pedro Martins put the team back in a order.
Īuropean success kept eluding though: despite some great wins, there was always a circumstance putting an end to the European journey - luck, Marinakis firing the coach for ego reasons (Jardim, Bento), GK blunders, covid changing the season, or simply a weaker team at the given moment.
In 2022-23 Olympiacos had a horrible season and Marinakis changed everything in the summer: you can read in details my post from August
here.
Since then: Did you read it? Good. Now throw all the planning and philosophy which was in theory put in place in August out of the window.
It didn't work. Diego Martinez improved the team and quality was added in several positions in attack and the wings, but the defense was vulnerable, the midfield was understaffed, and it went down the drain in November: the defensive performances against Greek minnows at home (despite wins) and the draw against Backa Topola (!) was the warning bell, and the hammer fell against PAOK at home (2-4) and Freiburg away (5-0). These results are not acceptable for Olympiacos under any circumstance, especially heavy defeats from other Greek clubs, and in early December, Martinez was fired with Olympiacos finishing 3rd in an EL Group with Freiburg, West Ham and Backa Topola with 7 points but having only 1 point in 3 Greek derbies.
But it gets worse: Marinakis hired Portuguese journeyman Carlos Carvalhal. He "fixed" the defense by positioning the players to sit back which led to not scoring against Lamia, Atromitos and Panathinaikos (twice), the players disliked him (Podence was visibly not even putting an effort) and the season looked lost, with PAOK having a 9 points lead in early February, the team out of the Cup to Panathinaikos and unable to win any Greek derby, much less think of Europe where Ferencvaros was waiting. Carvalhal was fired 1 week before the 1st leg match against Ferencvaros.
Marinakis is impulsive, arrogant and confrontational, and these traits led to the demise of the red and white stranglehold on domestic titles. But he is also very stubborn and really, really hates losing.
Changing 80% of the team didn't work? Let's do it again then in January!
Out go:
https://preview.redd.it/t7iqi675yk3d1.png?width=1392&format=png&auto=webp&s=89367a037749a8dae6197aa89546c43a4b684c0e In go:
https://preview.redd.it/k1cv8vy7yk3d1.png?width=1401&format=png&auto=webp&s=688cef9c3c7a8a32ed1af51e68cc6e259541bbbc And this time...jack-pot!
These transfers transformed Olympiacos for the best. Carmo is a 10 times better CB than Freire and Porozo combined. Chiquinho and Horta are quality, modern midfielders which complement the wonderful Hezze who was fighting alone for months next to unprofessional Mady Camara, and give a role to veteran Iborra in a midfield of 3. Martins gave much needed depth in the wings that Solbakken and Biel had failed to do. Abbey gave depth to the CB position. Navarro was a flop but you can't have it all.
The key to turning a wasted season to a glorious one, the missing piece of the puzzle, was the 3rd coach of the year:
Jose Luis Mendilibar.
The fans were furious with Marinakis, his entourage, and the players, and there was no enthusiasm when Mendilibar arrived: his EL trophy was treated as a fluke, like Di Matteo's CL because "Sevilla can win EL without a coach". His work at Eibar was disregarded as "it's a small club, what does he know about having to win every week". His debut was to be against Ferencvaros....
Here. We. Go! 1st minute of the match, Olympiacos defense is sleeping as usually and the Hungarians score. The new coach is destined to fail already, just like that. But VAR to the rescue: hairline offside! The match is balanced, but Olympiacos with the new coach aura and the January transfers starting to glue with the team find a goal with leading scorer El Kaabi (who had missed January because of AFCON) and the morale shifts.
7 days later, Mendilibar is hailed as the second coming of Ernesto Valverde: Olympiacos have won their 1st derby of the season by demolishing league leader PAOK away (1-4) and played their best European match so far in Budapest, doubling the 1-0 wins against Ferencvaros. The draw is kind to Olympiacos: the next opponent is Maccabi Tel Aviv, everyone's 2nd preference after Viktoria Plzen.
Mendilibar has already flipped the team morale, won the players, had luck in his 1st match and his 1st draw, and the next week he gets 3 more league wins while rotating the squad. The 9 points gap from the top of the league is down to 3, the fans who were asking for everyone's head are delirious, and the expectations for breaking the curse against Israeli teams (3/3 eliminations) are sky-high.
The back-to-earth reminder is brutal. Olympiacos' shaky defense, especially when not protected by a 3rd midfielder, is torn apart by Eran Zahavi, Maccabi scores 4 goals in 5 shots and leaves Pireaus with a shocking 1-4 win.
The next day changed the course of the club forever: against all odds, Marinakis announces (through press leaks) that Mendilibar signed a new multi-year contract. And when the Basque has a tactically bad match and Panathinaikos leaves Piraeus with an 1-3 win a few days later with the crowd booing everyone, Marinakis doesn't change his mind: the message to the players is that the coach isn't going anywhere, start performing.
Was it their bruised ego? Was it football wanting to reward a good decision over an impulsive one? Was it Maccabi thinking they're already through?
The match in Topola (Maccabi used it as "home") had everyone rubbing their eyes in disbelief: Olympiacos went to HT leading 0-3! And when CB Retsos gifted a penalty to the Israelis, the psychology shifted back with usually clumsy El Kaabi scoring a bicycle kick (!) and veterans Jovetic and El Arabi completed a mircale in extra-time: 1-6!
The draw was again kind, and the opponent in the 1st QF since 1999 was Fenerbahce (note: Greek clubs and Olympiacos in paticular are not afraid of Turkish clubs. In Greece they are considered as "rich but not necessarily stronger than us". I recall Turkish fans here seemed to think Fenerbahce is a club of the size of Porto or Ajax and clear favourites - in Greece they aren't seen like that. It's just the Greek fans and media POV, not an attempt to belittle Fenerbahce).
Until then though, the league campaign suffered a severe blow with an away 90th minute defeat to AEK in a match where Olympiacos was good but not clinical, with only slim hopes remaining for the title. But everyone's mind was in Europe.
Olympiacos entered the home leg pressing the error-prone Fenerbahce defense at every chance they got, and got a 3-0 lead after 60 minutes. But another stupid penalty given by Retsos plus lack of depth which brought fatigue allowed the Turkish team to make it 3-2 and a very close return leg...which started very wrong for Olympiacos, 1-0 down early on. The match "froze" for a big part and in the penalty shoot-out, Tzolakis who became starting GK at the 2nd leg against Maccabi Tel Aviv, saved 3/5, including the 5th one by Bonucci, and sent Olympiacos to heaven.
A rotated side managed to beat PAOK at home, dropped points to Aris and beat punching bag Lamia, and thanks to AEK's poor results vs PAOK, the title chase was also still on, with 3/3 wins in derbies needed.
Nobody was focusing on this: Olympiacos has a lot of titles, they can survive losing one. All eyes were on the prize: Aston Villa and the prospect of a final in AEK's stadium!
What followed was football giving back to Olympiacos what they deserved over the years: a perfect referee and VAR referee who didn't give any "home advantage" to the "big league" team, a perfect finishing night from the striker, and timing, always timing. Aston Villa scored early but the goal was cancelled because on an offensive foul (from the ones referees often miss), and Olympiacos shocks Villa Park in a counter attack with El Kaabi using Cash's heel to beat the offside trap by 1mm! 13 minutes later, El Kaabi doubles the lead with Mendilibar's press doing wonders against Lenglet and Olsen. Villa bounces back though, with a goal at the end of the 1st half (a limping Ortega couldn't follow Watkins) and equalize early in the 2nd half with Diaby catching Tzolakis by surprise. At this point the match reminds the Yassine Meriah-induced fiasco against Tottenham a few years ago, but this time Olympiacos doesn't crumble. Douglas Luiz gifts a penalty, and El Kaabi (who never misses penalties) completes his hat trick. 10 minutes later, Hezze who had never scored for Olympiacos tries a shot outside the box...deflection, Olsen doesn't react quickly, 2-4! Villa press a lot but tactical freezing of the pace and Luiz sending a penalty to the stands send Olympiacos back to Greece with the 2-goal lead.
In the week until the 2nd leg, reporters and English fans had started an irrational hype about Emi Martinez returning....forgetting that Villa needed 2-3 goals and a goalkeeper, even an elite one, doesn't really help much in that.
In a flaming Karaiskakis stadium, El Kaabi says thank you to Podence and Quini serving him a tap in on the counter and Villa has a mountain to climb and neither the stamina nor the morale to do it. Iborra and Carmo dominate the air, Retsos avoids his usual catastrophic error per match, Tzolakis is there when needed, and Villa has more or less the pointless possession that Spain's NT had in the World Cup.
El Kaabi puts the cherry on top with an identical VAR-verified goal: everyone believes he's offside, but a defender's heel keeps him onside. 2-0 and the dream of every Olympiacos fan (and nightmare of AEK and not only) is reality, final in Athens!
The league title is lost against a spirited and focused PAOK 3 days later. The club really wants to screw AEK for many reasons (mostly because of a fat Slovak referee gifting them a win in January in Piraeus) and beat them at home, sending the title to PAOK's hands. The domestic season ends with smiles after drawing Panathinaikos from 2-0 down and securing Europe for the next season.
The final is recent so I won't go into much detail: in an expectedly tactical and close match, Olympiacos made the dream come true in the way that the last 2 months went: El Kaabi goal in 116', dancing on the offside line, and VAR confirms that for the 3rd time he managed to find the millimeters separating glory from defeat!
Olympiacos caught their Moby Dick, lifted a European trophy in a season which was borderline disastrous for several months, filled haters with despair and fans with ecstatic joy and changed the club's history forever.
The golden team of the club, by order of matches started: https://preview.redd.it/argksj27vq3d1.png?width=1086&format=png&auto=webp&s=ba929943966b48c707dc10dda899b8179e09094f https://preview.redd.it/nvmla979vq3d1.png?width=1086&format=png&auto=webp&s=c9f1a574583d8fc9968af7f2dd2ae8a4fbd610f7 Rodinei: The best RB seen in Greece for many years, Rodinei is what Olympiacos fans dream from wing backs: a player with the technical skills of a no.10, who fearlessly runs forward and terrorizes opposition defenses when matched with Fortounis. He does leave gaps behind and isn't tactically very aware of crosses from the other side, but if he did that he would be in the Premier League. He almost became the black sheep when Livakovic saved his 5th penalty, but thanks to Tzolakis this moment cost nothing, and it would have been a huge pity for Rodinei. A cornerstone of the triumph!
Hezze: The soap opera tranfer of August was worth every second of waiting. Hezze started running in the summer and never stopped. A tireless athlete with the stamina of a long distance runner, the tactical awareness and tackle timing of a modern DM/CM, who held the midfield by himself every single match until February due to poor transfer planning, who also always has the clarity to pick the prime option when passing. The 22 years old Argentine was a hidden gem who shone very brightly once competent players played alongside him in the midfield, and got his personal reward as well with a goal in the Semi and the assist to the title-winning goal! Several European clubs are greedily looking at him, but there is the feeling that Marinakis is not going to sell him this summer.
Retsos: The most controversial player of the squad throughout the season. Retsos is an amazing CB 90% of the time, with an excellent ball-playing ability which made Leverkusen spend almost 20M for him when he was 18 years old. The other 10% of the time he has brainfart moments which usually lead to goals. In several matches throughout the year, he ruined his own excellent matches by giving an easy penalty or getting a red card or losing the ball where he shouldn't. He also had the bad luck to not get away with any of these errors - almost everything got punished with a goal while mistakes of others didn't end up in goals. This resulted to a lot of social media hate, peaking after the home match against Fenerbahce when his needless penalty kickstarted the return of the Turkish team in the tie. Nevertheless, he was still the 2nd best CB of the team and managed to not let his rollercoaster season affect him negatively in the final sprint, performing flawlessly against Villa and Fiorentina. If he stops the brainfart moments, he will become the best Greek CB ever.
Fortounis: The team captain lived a moment legends of the club were dreaming of. After 2 ACL injuries and a falling-out with Pedro Martins, he proved to everyone that he can make the difference at European-level pace, he can cover his wing back effectively (a chronic weakness of him), he can combine his lethal through balls with playing from the side and not strictly as no.10, and that Gustavo Poyet commited a crime by not having him in the national team (he rated Bakasetas more, lol). Fortounis gives solutions when matches get stuck, he opens the defenses and his creativity is a tool Olympiacos relies on so frequently that it's often taken for granted. He deserved this moment maybe a bit more than the rest. Top assister of the season!
Paschalakis: The starting goalkeeper for most of the season, dropped before the 1-6 against Maccabi. An old style keeper, with a huge body, very good reflexes, but with terrible ball-playing abilities and afraid to leave his line to clear crosses and corner kicks. Which was the reason, in parallel with the 7 goals in 3 days conceded to Maccabi and Panathinaikos, that Mendilibar changed him with Tzolakis. He had spectacular moments when the team wasn't well and there were many threats for the defense and accepted the secondary role in the end of the season with grace.
El Kaabi: Another amazing story reaching its climax. El Kaabi arrived in the summer with a career in Morocco, China, Qatar and one season in Turkish minnow Hatayspor. Noone was enthuiastic about him, and despite him quickly proving how easily he scores, there was still a lot of criticism about his limitations to control the ball and "break" it to the side and the fact he wasn't as technically skilled as prime El Arabi. His month in AFCON coincided with the team failing to score in many matches, and from February onwards he became an Olympiacos fan's dream of a striker: he was there in every single big match, finishing almost every one-touch chance he got: with his head, his feet, even a bicycle kick! He was what was expected from Tiquinho, from Oscar Cardozo, from so many bigger names who have passed from the team and never managed to be at the right spot at the right time as often as El Kaabi. 16 goals in Europe (2nd scorer of the club, in his 1st season!), 33 in total, 11 in 9 matches in the Conference League. 2 against Ferencvaros, 3 against Maccabi, 5 aganst Aston Villa and the golden goal of the final. That's an Olympiacos CF, the one the fans demand and rarely get to see. Clinical, always on the right side of the offside trap, present in big matches, 0 injuries. A player with an unremarkable career became a hero at Olympiacos and his name known in all Europe. What a story!
Masouras: When Olympiacos is struggling, Masouras is always there to fight and give solutions. When the team is rolling, he stands out negatively more often than not because he lacks the technical skills and quality a winger needs. Masouras became a bench player in the last 2-3 months and added his own part in the road to the title, as one of the clubs oldest players.
Ortega: The 2nd Argentine August arrival was the starting LB and had a lot of ups and downs. Tactically he isn't at the level he should be and makes it up with fighting spirit, technique and overlaps. He isn't Hezze, but covering the position occupied by the (hated by almost the entire fan base) talentless Reabciuk for 2 years, he had something rare: time. The bar was so low that there was patience to give him time to acclimatize and develop. As the rest of the team, he stepped up when it mattered and his 1st season in Europe ended ideally!
Podence: The short legend! When he got sold to Wolves, Olympiacos suffered for years, unable to find a winger of his quality. From players who are usesless without open space (Bruma), overweight players (Rony Lopes) to downright joke players (Onyekuru) and players who didn't give a shit (De La Fuente), everyone failed miserably to replace Podence. His return was greeted with joy and he showed why he is loved and was so hard to replace: the team's best dribbler, he improved his weak finishing in England (2nd scorer and 2nd assister of the season), he loves Greece and the club and gave everything he had most of the time (apart from his falling out with Carvalhal), he has a character and and an ego, he wins a lot of fouls, he is a tiny demon messing with every defender. He scored the 1st goal of the miracle against Maccabi, a screamer against Panathinaikos, he served on a silver platter to El Kaabi. Him, Hezze and El Kaabi were the summer transfers who changed the image of the team the first months.
Mady Camara: The less said, the better. An ungrateful, selfish player who believes he deserves to play in a bigger league and a bigger team, reluctantly stayed after Roma (and nobody else) wanted to buy him, chose to try hard only when he was personally interested, and was iced out of the team in January for refusing to renew and get sold, opting to leave as a free agent. Enjoy watching your teammates celebrate from your sofa, Mady!
Ntoi: An academy product, 20 years old, Ntoi was a DM in his youth career and was turned to a CB by Michel last season. He has good and bad qualities, not ready to be a starter for a team playing a high line but giving it all in Istanbul when he was needed in the return leg. He was the 1st bench option at the position for most of the season and he is with Tzolakis and Retsos one of the academy players who wrote their name in the history books with the title.
Quini: In Olympiacos, when you are a more limited player with a role to offer solutions from the bench, you are either a fan cult figure of a lightning rod for blame and hate. Quini zigzagged between the two, and his step-up when it mattered the most was one of the X factors. A veteran RB with a career in Segunda, he was asked to play LB often (thank Richards for being always injured) with mixed to poor results for most of the season. But with Ortega out against Villa, he had to step up for 3 halfs against the 4th PL team's wingers, and step up he did. He managed to limit the threats and assisted El Kaabi in the return leg to seal the presence in the final. Everyone played a part!
Chiquinho: Among the January transfers, he was the less flashy. Unknown to most people, the bar was low given the multiple failures of the last years when buying players from the Portuguese league, he soon proved everyone wrong and was one of the 3 January signings who turned the season around. An all around midfielder, playing both at no.8 and no.10, controlling the tempo and rushing forward when needed, with Hezze and Horta/Iborra he changed the way the midfield worked and turned the tide. He came with just 500k euros!
Carmo: Perhaps a 15M CB is what is necessary for Olympiacos to have a decent defense. Carmo came on loan from Porto in January and showed from his first game that he would be a season-changer. Strong, dominant and confident, he became the leader of the defense and changed the fate of the club. His block in Fiorentina's chance in 121' was his personal rubber stamp to a season his arrival turned around. Porto's asking price is high, but there's hope Olympiacos will manage to keep him. Best CB after Ruben Semedo and without criminal tendencies. He is worth every euro.
Tzolakis: Among so many stories, the one of Tzolakis is the greatest. The 21 years old goalkeeper was second for most of the season, with his performance in a few matches in previous seasons being lukewarm. Mendilibar made him starter before the return leg against Maccabi, valuing his quick thinking and skill to play with his legs and come out of the box when needed, and nobody could image what would follow. The young GK played with the confidence of a seasoned veteran, had flawless matches against Maccabi and Fenerbahce and became the ultimate hero in Istanbul by saving 3/5 penalties! From there with morale sky high, he was a rock until the end of the season, with 2 clean sheets in the 2nd Semi and the Final, and from another young prospect who was thinking of leaving to find playing time, you're looking at the starting GK of Olympiacos for years to come!
Alexandropoulos: The former Panathiniakos youngster on loan from Sporting scored one of the most crucial goal of the seasons: the equalizer against Genk in early August when half the squad hadn't arrived yet. His contribution came in the less flashy part of the season, but it was just as valuable. He didn't find much playing time the last months since Mendilibar preferes technically skilled midfielders and he's a bit clumsy, but if he stays there's a lot of room for improvement.
Horta: A technically artistic albeit a bit soft CM, Horta gave much needed solutions and filled the midfield of Olympiacos with quality and simplicity. Releasing pressure from Fortounis and Podence, sometimes from the bench sometimes as a starter, Horta was another missing piece of the puzzle which fell in place. He also put the nail in AEK's coffin with 2 goals which took the title out of their hands!
Navarro: You can't have 100% success in January transfers. Navarro is not a great goalscorer, he can't do much against parked buses, doesn't have the positioning of El Kaabi or the skill of Jovetic, and it's frankly a mystery why Porto values him at 8M.
Iborra: Extreme makeover, football edition. Iborra in a 4-2-3-1 system looked like a geriatric dinosaur, unable to follow the pace, slow, tired and generally useless. Mendilibar saw something in him though and when he changed the system in a 4-3-2-1 with both Hezze and Chiquinho alongside him, the 36 years old Spaniard turned to a leader in the pitch: calm, methodic, dominant in the air, he was a different player and lifted his 5th European trophy, with significant contribution to it!
Biancone: A rather mediocre CB with no attributes to make him stand out, he played in league matches mostly before March.
Jovetic: The Montenegrin veteran stayed away from injuries, with the correct usage (coming from the bench), and proved his quality: technique, experience and big moment goals, with the 5th against Maccabi his highlight. Everything you can ask from a substitute forward!
Carvalho: A meme player who cost the Greek Cup with a missed 5th penalty, mediocrity and lack of mental strength, a Mendes plant who made a career with almost zero skills to play anywhere above Rio Ave.
Biel: A player completely unfit for the brutal environment of Olympiacos. He rarely managed to show his talent, he cracked under pressure, he doesn't fight back but his performance takes a nosedive if things go wrong. Shipped to Augsburg in January.
Richards: The medical center's permanent resident, he showed flashes of quality, but what's the point if his body is made of glass?
Freire: A wrong transfer from the start, a mediocre player, error prone, not a great match with any of the other CBs, left in January. Night vs day compared to Carmo.
Gelson Martins: A proper winger, with acceleration, dribble and threat to the defense. Not in the European list because only 3 changes were possible in January, but he rested the starters in the league and is a big hope for the next season as long as he stays healhy.
Porozo: Average, never justified the hype, not worse than Freire but his lack of an EU passport led him to being ommitted from the squad more often than not due to league rules, and left in January.
Solbakken and Scarpra: Flops of the season. Came with much fanfare and high expectations, and offered nothing. We're still waiting for a player coming from Forest to be in the "good" and not the "mediocre" or "bad".
Abbey: A prospect CB who came from Reading in January, showed raw talent in several matches and will play more next year.
El Arabi: A club legend says goodbye in the best way possible. At age 37, he couldn't have the role he was used to, but what better way to close his career in the club? His last game was the winning final, his last goal was the 6th against Maccabi Tel Aviv. With 20 goals he is the club's top scorer in Europe, in the top 10 scorers overall, and the most talented all around CF seen for at least a decade. Thanks for everything!
Vezo: A Mendes transfer, probably in a silent deal to bring us the good Portuguese alongside. Didn't play much, not sure what his level is, he is no Carmo though.
Vrousai: Academy player, on loan to Rio Ave to find game time.
Cabral: He got injured at the only part of the season where he could have found minutes. Came as an extra solution for Greece, can't say we saw it.
Brnic: Started the season strongly but with Podence's arrival he couldn't find space in the squad.
Apostolopoulos: Academy player who debuted with the first team against Aston Villa! Mendilibar proved he isn't afraid at the slightest with his debut.
Ramon: I forgot he played. One of our many mediocrities out on loan.
Goals and Assists:
https://preview.redd.it/k5610bxy7s3d1.png?width=1096&format=png&auto=webp&s=cd72b3af7f997c59d998cab2c3eaf2d9f4de6d8b https://preview.redd.it/t7z0b4d18s3d1.png?width=1083&format=png&auto=webp&s=39883104a48096d10ea8158cce861c9361896342 Future: Apart from the obvious (the title itself), Olympiacos won the chance to change the next years for the club as well: the direct spot in the next Europa League league phase means a proper pre-season without qualifiers. It means planning without must-win matches in the summer.
The club completes 100 years in 2025 and Marinakis was already talking about the EL Final in Bilbao! Wild, but shows the mood to raise the budget, keep the key players and aim even higher!
I am not a Dortmund fan and I genuinely believe this. There is one big reason why: Real Madrid's consistency, or lack thereof in this CL run. They played dogshit against RBL, and they had 2 really bad legs against City and Bayern. I feel like people just forget that. Sure, Real's peak performances were leagues above Dormund's, but their bottom performances were also way below Dortmund's with the exception of the first game in the group stage against PSG. So I don't understand people saying things like "Dortmund are only here through luck". Like, how can you say that when the opponent is this Real Madrid, who admittedly have a way better squad, but only manage to make us of it like 50% of the time, and the other 50% times they toss the coin and hope that Vini will have that magic moment? It only worked against Bayern because Kim had an abysmal day. Good luck with that against Schlotti and Hummels.