Sunday, December 22, 2024

Arsenal draw Olympiacos in Europa League last-16

Arsenal will face Olympiacos in the Europa League last-16. LOL.

The Greeks knocked the Gunners out of the competition on away goals at the last-32 stage last year.

Arsenal have faced Olympiacos 10 times in the last 12 years splitting the wins evenly.

Having just played a home game last night at the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium, we return to the Athens arena as the away team on 11th March.

We’ll then host Olympiacos at the Emirates on 18th March

Full Draw

Ajax vs Young Boys
Dynamo Kiev vs Villarreal
AS Roma vs Shakhtar Donetsk
Olympiacos vs Arsenal
Dinao Zagreb vs Sp*rs
Manchester United vs AC Milan
Slavia Prague vs Rangers
Granada vs Molde

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Daveo

Now lets see if we learned anything from last year. It is a decent draw. And we SHOULD win. Should being the optimal word…

HENLEYGOONER

Good draw, Kiev/Villareal, Roma/Shaktar, Zagreb/Spurs and ManU/Milan – thats 4 really good teams going out. Ajax/YB, Prague/Rangers and Granada/Molde – that’s 3 poorer teams going through. I’ll take take. Just need to win now.
Man U unlucky – had Prague, Rangers, Granada,Molde and Milan in the pot – got Milan. Good.

allezkev

Good point

Ealing

Horrible !!! good team and sp*rs in same sentence,

Public Elneny

Are Kiev, Shakhtar and Zagreb genuinely good these days?

I haven’t played football manager for too many years, I’ve got no idea which eastern European teams are stacked with Brazilian wonderkids anymore

HENLEYGOONER

no, but flying to Ukraine is a long way

Parisian Weetabix

I also couldn’t offer much insight on the virtues of Dinamo Zagreb from a footballing standpoint but I should point out that Zagreb isn’t actually in Ukraine but in Croatia – and while I’m as keen as anyone to look for potential pitfalls in Sp*rs’ Europa League campaign that makes it a significantly shorter flight not only than Donetsk and Kiev but also Athens, which rather ends up spoiling the fun of all this logistical speculation.

GraeB

I love a good bit of pedantry!

Johnny 4 Hats

Putin – They used to be very good clubs but for thirty years have been lost in the wilderness. But they could become great again!

ParteyPants

Harsh on Ajax, no?

Velociraptor

Other teams will be saying the same about our tie…..that´s another poorer team going through.

Quentin Quarantino

Beware of Greeks bearing gifts !
Enough said…

IamaGoober

So very bored of playing Olympiacos — like as bored of playing them as the last handful of Champions League ties we had where we continuously got drawn against Munich and Barcelona. Felt like we were stuck in Groundhog Day. Every season we’d finish second in our group and then end up getting drawn against a Pep Guardiola side of some description. Then we’d subsequently end up taking an absolute shoeing over two legs and be on the first bus home before actually having an opportunity to get excited about playing European football. And now we find ourselves getting drawn… Read more »

A M

Ah shit here we go again
Hopefully we do put in a good performance and prevent a Greek tragedy to reach the quarter finals #COYG

evaristus asobara

F**kin hell!

Peter Story Teller

Not again!

Sagebrush

This Olympiacos ashls owe us plenty

Jacques

Sokratis with a 89th winner!

Daveo

Well he definitely isn’t cup tied…

Kostas

We haven’t registered him.

Andy

No doubt he’ll play like Beckenbauer

Kostas

If he knows his art well he will injure Saka without a yellow.

Not that I am wishing that…but I dread it

Mikel's Coat

What about a Sokratis 89th minute own goal or him conceding a pen?

Tommmy

Good to see united draw Milan!
Let’s go boys! No more mistakes

Giuseppe Hovno

WE CAN DO THIS. I love that there’s a chance we could meet up with Molde in the quarter finals….

ElGunnerLoco

You really think we’re gonna be that lucky to get such a draw in a European Quarter finals?

My guess is you’re going to have two English clubs facing off in the next round, and then on the side a matchup like Molde – Slavia Prague, or Young Boys or something like that.

Biggles

Let’s just get past Olympiakos first, shall we? This reminds me so much of some of the posts prior to the FA Cup match against Southampton… and we all know what happened there.

yen

Slavia Prague is actually a very tough matchup

ElGunnerLoco

So they pulled off a one-off shocker against Leicester, a team not so much accustomed to playing the possession football that they were left to play against them… does it really make them a very tough matchup when compared to the likes of United, Milan, Roma and the majority of the rest of the teams that remain in the competition from some of the top European Leagues?

Biggles

I think the point is that you just never know and declaring an outcome a certainty doesn’t necessarily make it so. I’m sure we can all recall some unexpected results in Europe – goodness knows, Arsenal have had a few in their time! Teams that nobody expects to do anything sometimes can – and do.

ElGunnerLoco

And what outcome exactly did I declare a certainty?

Putting words in my mouth much, eh?

I just pointed out that when compared to most sides remaining in the competition they fall in the category of less menacing ones, which I found to be obvious and self-evident based on their history, finances and overall the size and stature of the club.

ElGunnerLoco

Jeesus fucking Christ, you can’t say nothing not over the top glowing about anyone or anything these days, even if it’s obvious as fuck, without the pc brigade coming at ya’ lol

Fine… have it you lot, every club in the world is the best club in the world! Happy now, eh?

Basil mcfawlty

Someone’s angry

ElGunnerLoco

Not really angry, just unfiltered, as I’ve no reason to put a filter on me around morons who twist my words xD Funny seeing someone take on the name of a John Cleese character to stand in defence of political correctness and against being able to call a spade a spade, but I guess it’s that extent of cluelessness that some have somehow managed to achieve. Not sure if anything you say really merits any consideration when you’re not even capable of thinking up of a name that doesn’t completely rep against the cause you’re trying to make a stand… Read more »

CfbSolon

Christ, dude.

You’ve turned someone saying “You sound overly confident” into a grievance-fest about someone shutting you up because they are being “politically correct.”

Maybe if you try hard you can maybe shoehorn a little more whining about some other unrelated issue into this and make yourself look like even more of a victim. Best of luck.

ElGunnerLoco

It’s not an unrelated issue whatsoever and I never in this thread even remotely discuss the eventual outcome of a possible Arsenal vs Slavia encounter… cheers mate, but I do suggest reading with understanding the next time you’re around so you might have a clue as to what the fuck is going on around, you know… 😉

CfbSolon

Yeah, big boy, thanks for the input, but I get what’s going on.

If someone disagrees with your opinion and you start babbling about “political correctness” you’ve either got a pretty soft mind that can’t the slightest bit of disagreement or you are just a full-time whiner.

Let me help you out here: if the first poster thought you should have been banned for posting a stupid opinion, you might have a point. Because they didn’t, you just sound like a fucking baby. Does that help clarify things?

ElGunnerLoco

You don’t really have a fucking clue whatsoever… It’s hard to even figure out what you’re on about when you say that someone told me “You sound overly confident” because literally nobody in this thread told me that, nor did I even anywhere in this thread make a prediction about literally anything aside from the outcome of the draw, and I certainly wasn’t overly confident on that as it was just an of the wall guess about something more or less completely random… so yeah, get a fucking clue and stop babbling nonsense ya’ nutbag, because you seem completely detached… Read more »

ElGunnerLoco

But yeah, first and foremost, get a fucking clue as to what’s going on and figure out how to read with understanding, it really is an important skill… because as anyone with a brain can see, I answered someone disagreeing with me with no issues whatsoever in the first reply to my reply, and only when my argument was twisted into something it really wasn’t by some idiot did I respond in kind in a conflicting manner, because after all, why wouldn’t I have my fun with a cunt not capable of holding a simple line of conversation without intentionally… Read more »

ElGunnerLoco

around you*, you know

OllieSmall

I don’t think I’m ready for the last minute Sokratis bullet header to send us out of Europe

onenil

Into his own net

Twatsloch

And still we get sent out of Europe? That’s harsh.

Spanish Gooner

Good. Time to avenge last season’s defeat and then draw the winner of Granada vs Molde in the quarter finals

Chipper49.

Obviously…

Nikolaj

I for one am glad that we drew them again. Time to get some revenge.
Hopefully we can give them a thrashing

A M

Ah shit here we go again
Hopefully we do put in a good performance and prevent a Greek tragedy to reach the quarter finals #COYG

Lettra

Revenge is a dish best served.

Period.

dariusz

Revenge is. Period is not.

Daan

Nice! I was hoping for Olympiakos. We owe them a good stuffing for the way we lost last year.

I know it is probably not the most favourable opponent but if we have any aspiration of winning the cup we have to win these kind of matches anyway.

Lets go!

allezkev

You couldn’t make it up….

TJOY

In fairness, with only 16 teams left and Arsenal and Olympiakos being two of them, you could

allezkev

True…

ElGunnerLoco

Oh, but you could…

Remember that you’re talking about a side who somehow always seems to play the same freaking teams in Europe… I guess having dropped down to the Europa League Olympiakos is now our new Bayern/Barca… was hoping for a fresh interesting tie, you just now its going to be a cagey nervy affair with these Greek bastards, hopefully we end up on the right side of it this time around.

Public Elneny

2 home games, nice

Tierney’s Tescopoints

😂😂

Cyprus The Immortal Gooner

I believe Olympiacos is a better team than Benfica. They also put 5 goals against PSV on aggregate. We should advance though…

Agree. Oly is cruising in the Super League with a +45 goal differential, having lost just once. I like our chances, but it won’t be easy.

allezkev

Burton to get the winner…

ElGunnerLoco

Would be epic, but living in Zagreb and kind of following Dinamo as well I can tell ya’ that he is barely a squad player for Dinamo, won’t probably get any minutes in what will be the two biggest games of Dinamo’s season.

Dinamo overall though look better than ever in my lifetime, I really do reckon they could prove themselves capable of causing Sh*ts some issues and give ’em a closely contested challenge.

gooner

Why do I keep reading Georgios Karagunis stadium in my head?

Snc

Ohh good to see u again,papa!

Murphy was an Arsenal Fan

He won’t be cup-tied or something will he? He wasn’t in the squad for us, so he might play, right?

Chris Breezy

Great draw and if we get through(which we should) we’d be favourites/very tight odds with any winner other than Utd and Milan. I actually looked at all the teams on the arsenews piece earlier and thought it looked a longshot but this looks much more promising. Keeps the season interesting for now anyway.

Danno5

It feels like destiny is drawing us ever closer to meeting Molde in the final?

Gunn Cabinet

This one has became personal

MyArse-Anal

We’ll get our revenge! 1st leg is on my Birthday as well, so come on Arsenal, don’t fuck my Birthday up!

Serpent

If we get past Olympiakos, there should be a few good options for the next opponents. Some of the ”powerhouses” will be eliminated.

ManU-Milan, the Zlatan derby. Well, there goes any chance of our game being on Swedish tv… 😒

Lars

Olympiacos are our Bayern Munich or Barcelona of the Europa League🤷‍♂️

AfroGooner

Okay, good. Let’s show we’ve learned from last year…

And for the love of Middle Earth, the homeless goblins had better lose.

Torterrier

Classic.

loose_cannon

Our Greek Odyssey continues…

Olawale Olayemi

It’s payback time

Fatgooner

Tough draw, actually. Olympiacos are running away with their domestic title and are hard to score against. It’s good that we avoided the other British teams but this will be difficult.

We can’t afford the madness of the last round if we are to hi through.

David C

good point. They only have one loss this year….they are going to be able to rotate/rest their best 11 for this one.

I wonder if we will do the same. I still think Europa is more important than the league at the moment.

A Different George

The other “British” teams. Rangers would be easier than a lot of others, and easy travel.

Fatgooner

I’d actually prefer to play Spuds than Rangers. Stevie G’s boys have got their tails up and are looking pretty decent. And Spuds are shit and on a downer with Maureen losing the plot.

matthinc

I feel good about this one. COYG.

Biggles

Could have been worse. At least Utd or Milan will be out.

Murphy was an Arsenal Fan

Hope the winner of that one gets Spurs, if Zagreb don’t put Mourinho in mourning, that is.

Db412

Lol Olympiacos got thru courtesy of an 88th minute goal last night… Still confident but would prefer to get the home tie and prospect of conceding any away goals done and dusted in the first leg as opposed to the second leg.

Murphy was an Arsenal Fan

I am not entirely sure we are in a position to banter about going through on late goals.

Longbow

Bring it on!! Revenge is gonna be sweet.

Dave

LMFAO, it was meant to be them, we always play them

TheG

Do we start home or away in Greece?

shokim

Away

Des

We will go through 100%

Biggles

I really hope so, but I’ll be confident as you are when the final whistle is blown at the end of the second leg.

SLC Gooner

Sheesh. Again. There’s certainly worse draws we could have had. But this is as bad as drawing Bayern all the time.
At least we’re used to their stadium. Which looked like slippery footing yesterday.

MARIO DIAMANT

reminds me of an old Tupac song:
“revenge is like the sweetest joy next to getting pus*y”
COYG

K9ine

Olympiacos is to Europa league, what Bayern is in champions league. Inevitable

Biggles

Looks like it, doesn’t it. Let’s hope that our previous result against the Greeks isn’t a pointer to the inevitable this time around though.

Twatsloch

A reason to say hi to Sokratis.

Doghouse

Revenge would be sweet, the day after us being knocked out wearing my arsenal shirt I made an unplanned visit to a Greek restaurant, the host had a smile not a happy one but one like I’m gonna enjoy this, on being shown to our table he pointed out a picture behind the bar of a team in white and red, when it clicked.. he decided to tell me how big Olympiacos are how lucky we were to not lost more (even though we went out on goals scored) brought the chef out so he could have a laugh and… Read more »

Arsenal and Spurs are both due to play their homes legs on the same date – 18th March – but I doubt UEFA will allow that so one of the games could be switched to the day before.
Coincidentally, the dates of these two legs sandwich the NLD.

allezkev

But there’s going to be no crowds so I don’t see there being any problem, not that that’ll stop UEFA making an issue out of it….

A Different George

It’s usually the police that don’t want two adjacent clubs at home on the same day. Why would UEFA care?

Dunno mate but it’s in the UEFA regulations. Anyway seems like we won’t be affected after all judging by the below text, which also explains why Spurs played Wednesday this week; “If more than one club from the same city, or within a radius of 50km (31 miles) of each other, is taking part in any of the UEFA club competitions and/or plays in the same stadium, and if the association and the clubs concerned explicitly declare when entering the clubs that their matches cannot be played on the same day or on consecutive days, the UEFA administration may alter… Read more »

Plaza223

This would actually be absolutely needed in normal circumstances. To avoid having the supporters of Dinamo Zagreb and Olympiacos in the same city since those guys hold a grudge and both are notorious for their jolly attitude and respecting the hospitality of their hosts. Coming from a Zagreb native Gooner.
And Ofcourse, I can’t express how happy would I feel if my local team ends the European run of our beloved neighbours

JeremyDG

I feel like i’m on one giant fucking loop with this club. Are Olympiakos going to be like Barcelona in the CL days?

Vonnie

They may try, but I think we’ll thump them.

Granit(e) hard!

Agaaaaaain? Well, good news is its revenge time, lets go get em boys!

Marjani

You have to be kidding me. To get stuck with the same rotten Greek team…arghhhhh!!!!

CLEGOONER

Both legs on their patch, then?

Nainsley Aitland Miles

No Greece isn’t on the UK covid travel Red List.

Storm

Was looking at the remaining teams in the competition and just realized the Europa league is much more winnable than the FA cup

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