Matchday 5 of the Champions League saw us travel to Germany for our tie against Schalke04. We had already more or less qualified for the Europa League but a win here would move us into second position (at least) and put us into a prime position to qualify for the next stage. We therefore needed a win, away to very tough opposition, to have any real chance of progressing to the last 16.

We didn't start off the match too badly. We got forward, won a couple of corners and generally matched the Germans play for play at the start of the game. Maybe we were a little sloppy on the passes but we at least looked bright and energetic. The first twenty five minutes showed little in the way of end chances for either team although it had to be admitted that the few chances were all in Schalkes favour. We made a couple of runs during this period but accomplished little of any note.

As the half progressed the Germans started to come a little closer to our goal with their chances, but we were also standing firm for the moment. For our part we created another corner, free kick and made a few runs on their goal but we were having some trouble in breaking through the German defensive line although we were playing very well further back down the pitch. The half finished at 0-0 and largely we could be happy with our performance, the only real problem was a yellow card to Holebas which means he will miss the match against Arsenal.

Schalke pushed forward in numbers at the start of the second half and we had to defend well to limit the German chances on our goal. We broke up their waves of attacks with counter attacks of our own but we were being pushed further back up the pitch in this phase of the match. Some of the defending was very desperate but we kept the opposition at bay for the time being. As the half progressed, Schalke came at us harder and harder and we were struggling to contain their attacks although we were also defending very admirably. Our clearances were not of the highest quality though and as soon as we had managed to get the ball from the area, we were wasting possession and gifting the ball directly to the opposition.

We were denied a penalty after Abdoun was fouled in the Schalke 6 yard box and we had a couple of chances on the German goal in the 75th minute but we then almost immediately conceded the losing goal at the other end of the pitch. Schalke player Fuchs shot the ball from some distance out, through a gap in our defence and past Carroll who couldn't get to the corner of the goal to stop the ball from going in. With our 77 minutes of responsible defending totally undone we shifted to a more offensive outlook and tried to get the equaliser. Unfortunately we could not manage this and so the game ended in a loss for us.

We had played well defensively for the majority of the game but a single chance from the Germans destroyed our good work. Offensively we were poor though and failed to really get any decent chances on goal for a lot of the game. When we did spring into life towards the end of the game, our passing was not great and we perhaps tried to pass the ball into the goal rather than shooting on first sight of goal.
The loss confirms that we will be playing in the Europa League come the new year.

Schalke 1-0 Olympiakos
77' Fuchs

Olympiakos : Carroll, Torosidis, Manolas, Siovas, Holebas, Modesto (80' Ibagasa), Maniatis, Greco (66' Fuster), Abdoun, Machado, Mitroglou (75' Djebbour)

The team departing to Germany was announced earlier this morning. 19 players in total make the journey and these will consist of :-

Goalkeepers (2)
Carroll, Megyeri

Defenders (7)
Siovas, Holebas, Manolas, Torosidis, Modesto, Maniatis, Contreras

Midfielders (7)
Greco, Ibagasa, Fuster, Fejsa, Abdoun, Machado, Diakite

Attackers (3)
Djebbour, Pantelic, Mitroglou

The absentees (for one reason or another) include Papazoglou, Zaradoukas, Tatos, Vlachodimos and Fetfatzidis.

Matchday 1 of our champions league campaign saw us face Schalke in the Karaiskaki stadium. The atmosphere was electric as we faced off against the Germans and when the teams came onto the pitch the coreos were displayed over both ends and we got ready to meet our destiny in the group.

After a nervy few minutes we made our first chances on goal with a chipped shot from Machado, cleared from the line and a follow up into the side of the net. After these opening shots we slipped back and kept the ball in possession. Schalke came forward on a couple of occasions but without any real success and we closed them down easily enough.

Further attempts on goal included a free kick from Holebas and a header from Djebbour which went the wrong side of goal. The Germans had their own chances with the ball but apart from possessing the ball, there was little in the way of chances from them. When it came to the defence we were still holding our own and restricting the Schalke chances on goal.

The very cagey style of play continued from both sides as the game progressed towards the halftime break with both sides struggling to get chances on goal. Schalke did manage to get the ball into the net but only by infringing Megyeri and their effort was instantly ruled out by the referees. Unfortunately it was the Germans who managed to score first when Howedes headed into the net following a corner and so we ended the half trailing in the scoreline.

Following the restart we had real trouble getting the ball out of our half and almost conceded again in the 52nd minute when Megyeri spilled a shot on the line. Luckily the Schalke player going for the follow up scooped the ball over, sparing our blushes. We eventually got ourselves sorted and get forward before finally Abdoun had his chance scraped off the line. Abdoun was not to be denied however and managed to get the ball into the net a minute later to equalise the scoreline.

Immediately after the game was restarted Schalke scored again after our defence was found lacking and straight afterwards they were gifted a penalty when Manolas tripped one of their players in the box. Luckily they shot the penalty against the post and we escaped for the minute. It wasn't all one way traffic and we got forward again allowing Ibagasa to make a shot on goal.

Our final two changes of the match gave us more of an attacking flair but although we were getting further up the pitch we were having trouble in creating chances on goal. We were also suffering from some of the challenges coming our way and Holebas in particular had to leave the field for a while to recover from some of the tackles.

As the game came to a close we couldn't manage to make any effective headway up the pitch and were being forced onto the defensive too often to make any decent chances on goal. Djebbour did have a final solo run on goal from the corner flag but this was the final act of the game. We ended up losing the match and the crowd sounded its annoyance as the game ended.

Olympiakos 1-2 Schalke
41' Howedes
58' Abdoun
59' Huntelaar

Olympiakos : Megyeri, Torosidis, Contreras, Manolas, Holebas, Maniatis, Modesto (68' Greco), Machado, Abdoun (68' Mitroglou), Fuster (56' Ibagasa), Djebbour

Our team has been announced for the game against Schalke tomorrow. Most of the players who were held over from the weekend have been included in the squad and only Papazoglou and Diakite are absentees. The team announced is :-

Goalkeepers (2)
Carroll, Megyeri

Defenders (5)
Siovas, Holebas, Manolas, Torosidis, Contreras
 
Midfielders (9)
Greco, Ibagasa, Fuster, Modesto, Maniatis, Fetfatzidis, Fejsa, Abdoun, Machado

Attackers (4)
Diogo, Mitroglou, Pantelic, Djebbour

Two players will obviously be cut from the list of 20 in advance of the game tomorrow.

As you may already know, we have been drawn in the Champions League group stages with Arsenal, Schalke and Montpellier. This perhaps is not the worst draw that we could have had but all of the opponents will be a tough test for us. Arsenal are weaker than they were last year but still have a very formidable team and will be able to put a squad onto the pitch worth over €100 million easily. Players like Podolsky may cause us a problem but we came close to getting 4 points against them last season and 3 back in 2009 when we played them before. We should aim for 4 points from this team but perhaps 3 is more likely.

Schalke were very up and down last year but managed to qualify for the Champions League by scraping third in the Bundesliga. We have done well against German opposition in the past, thrashing Werder Bremen, Hertha Berlin and Borussia Dortmund in recent years and I'm pretty hopeful about this tie. They do have a powerful squad but I think we should be able to get two good results against this team.

Our final opponent, Montpellier are very much an unknown quantity for me. I haven't seen them in action too often although I know that they did win Ligue 1 with Oliver Giroud being their top scorer (and subsequently sold to Arsenal). Our record against French teams is not very good unfortunately and they play at an even faster rate than the English league. We may have some trouble with Montpellier but nothing is for certain until we play them I guess.

In all, I'm very confident that we will at least finish in third place. Whether we can finish in second place will be dependant on our ability to eke out points away from home.