#OLYB04 – match facts
Bayer 04 have already faced Olympiacos twice in the Champions League. In the group stage in 2002/03, Klaus Toppmöller’s Werkself learned their lesson from a 6-2 away defeat as they beat the Greeks 2-0 at home thanks to goals from Juan and captain Bernd Schneider. In recent years, Leverkusen have also fared well against opponents outside the top five European leagues, winning 14 of their last 19 European matches and losing none.
The strong Champions League defence of the team led by Kasper Hjulmand – which has conceded just two goals in the last three UCL matches, the fourth-fewest in the competition – should lay the foundations for the first win in four away games in Greece. Aleix Garcia, who has delivered the third-most line-breaking passes in the league phase so far, could once again activate his through ball delivery service. In the game against Olympiacos, the Spaniard will be up against coach José Luis Mendilibar, his former manager from his time at SD Eibar in La Liga. And the captain of the Greek side is also a familiar face at Bayer 04: Panagiotis Retsos played 43 games for the Black and Reds between 2017 and 2022. Ahead of the match, he spoke in an interview with bayer04.de about his fond memories of his time at Leverkusen and the impending reunion with former team-mates.
focus on Olympiacos
With a narrow 1-0 win at Kairat Almaty, Olympiacos moved very close to the play-off places again after the Mendilibar side nearly held Real Madrid (3-4) and drew with PSV Eindhoven (1-1) in their previous games. Despite their recent elimination from the Greek cup competition, the Red and Whites have enjoyed success outside of the UCL in recent years, winning the UEFA Conference League in 2024 and then the domestic double of championship and cup. The experience of the team around captain Retsos has proved to be a trump card: Alongside Gelson Martins and Daniel Podence (both 30 years old), striker Mehdi Taremi (33) also brings many years of experience from top European clubs. Where the Greek champions do have problems, however, is shown in our lowdown on the next opponents.
