Olympiakos vs Fiorentina: Preview, Prediction & Betting Tips

The Europa Conference League final takes centre stage in midweek, as Olympiakos and Fiorentina face off in Europe’s tertiary competition.

Date: 29/05/24

Kick-off time: 20:00

Venue: OPAP Arena

A trophy and a place in next season’s Europa League is at stake for both Olympiakos and Fiorentina. It will be very familiar surroundings for the Greek side, with the game taking place at the OPAP Arena, home of their rivals AEK Athens. This season, Olympiakos finished third in the Greek Super League, ending the campaign with four points from their last three games. They booked their place in the final of the Conference League with an impressive 6-2 aggregate victory over Premier League Aston Villa. They dropped down to the competition after finishing third in their Europa League group, before making it through the play-off and eliminating Maccabi Tel-Aviv and Fenerbache in the Round of 16 and quarter-final.

Serie A side Fiorentina will be hoping to avenge last season’s heartbreaking final defeat to West Ham in the same competition and win just their second ever European trophy. With one game remaining in the league, they are likely to finish in eighth place, meaning this is their final chance to make it into the Europa League. Their route to the final involved finishing top of their group, before knocking out Maccabi Haifa, Viktoria Plzen and Club Brugge. They are yet to lose a game in the competition so far.

Despite it being a final, there should be goals, with both teams potent in attack throughout this tournament. In 12 games, Fiorentina have scored 25 times, an average of just over two goals per game. Meanwhile, Olympiakos have netted 18 times in eight games, giving them a slightly higher average. Goals at both ends seem likely, with the pair combining for only seven clean sheets between them. The Italians have multiple goal threats, particularly Nicolas Gonzalez and Lucas Beltran, who have combined for 25 in all competitions. Olympiakos will lean on the services of Ayoub El Kaabi, who scored five times in the semi-final.

This will be the first ever meeting between Olympiakos and Fiorentina. In 28 fixtures against Italian opposition, Olympiakos have won just seven times. Similarly, Fiorentina have a poor record against Greek sides, though a much smaller sample size. They have one win in five, that victory coming against PAOK.

Olympiakos

Defender Giulian Biancone should be the only player to miss out for Olympiakos.

Fiorentina

Fiorentina should have a relatively fit squad to choose from, with Riccardo Sottil likely to be the only absentee with a shoulder injury.

Olympiakos

In their last five games, Olympiakos have won three, drawn one and lost one. It has been a good run of form for Olympiakos as they booked their place in the Europa Conference League final and finished third in the Greek Super League.

This run started with European action, taking on Aston Villa over two legs in the semi-final of the Conference League. The first leg at Villa Park finished 4-2 in the Greek side’s favour, putting them in a commanding position ahead of the reverse fixture. The visitors took a two-goal lead with a brace from Ayoub El Kaabi, but Ollie Watkins pulled one back on the stroke of half-time. Moussa Diaby then grabbed an equaliser shortly after the restart. Olympiakos did not back down, and restored their lead through an El Kaabi penalty, his third of the game. Santiago Hezze then gave them a two-goal cushion once more. The second leg ended 2-0, with El Kaabi the main man again. Villa made a good start and dominated possession, but the striker scored in the 10th minute against the run of play. He doubled the lead late in the second half to put the tie to bed.

They returned to league action with a trip to leaders PAOK, but they came away with a 2-0 loss. Taison and Andrija Zivkovic scored either side of half-time to condemn them to defeat. They were on the right side of the same scoreline with what was a good response at home to AEK Athens. There was not much to split the teams in the opening half, but a brace from Andre Horta in the second period secured an important three points. Their most recent game was a 2-2 draw at Panathinaikos to finish the league season. They had to come from 2-0 down to salvage a point, with Daniel Podence and Stevan Jovetic netting in the final 20 minutes.

Fiorentina

In their last five games, Fiorentina have won two, drawn two and lost one. It has been a mixed stretch of form for Fiorentina, though they were able to book their place in the Europa Conference League final. The first game in this run resulted in their only defeat, as they lost 2-1 at Verona. The hosts went ahead through a Darko Lazivic penalty, but La Viola equalised with a goal from Gaetano Castrovilli just before the break. Tijjani Noslin scored the winner for Verona 15 minutes after the restart.

Attention then shifted to European action with the second leg of the Conference League semi-final against Club Brugge. After winning the first leg 3-2 at home, they travelled to Belgium with an advantage. They went behind on the night to a Hans Vanaken opener, but they managed to avoid extra-time as Lucas Beltran equalised from the spot with five minutes to go. They returned to league action with a 2-1 win against Monza. They went behind early on, but recovered with goals from Nicolas Gonzalez and Arthur Melo either side of half-time.

They then faced the defending champions Napoli at home and drew 2-2. Once again they went behind early to an Amir Rrahmani strike, though turned it around before half-time through Cristiano Biraghi and M’bala Nzola. Their most recent game was a trip to Cagliari, which they won 3-2. There was plenty of late drama in this one after they took a one-goal lead into the break. Alessandro Deiola and Kingstone Mutandwa put them in front. Gonzales levelled it in the 89th minute, before Arthur scored the winner 13 minutes into stoppage time from the penalty spot.

Both sides come into this final in similar form, meaning there should not be much to split the pair on the night. However, after losing the final of the same competition last season, we back Fiorentina to go one step further and lift the trophy – Olympiakos 1-2 Fiorentina

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Olympiakos vs Fiorentina will be available to watch on TNT Sports 1.

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