Roberto Colotti's goal to win Maccabi Tel Aviv against Olympiakos/Sport1
The Russian league is back from the long winter break, Vladan Ivić is preparing for the second half of the season with Krasnodar, with which he hopes to repeat his achievement in Israel and win the championship.
In between, the coach will watch tonight (Thursday, 19:45 on Sport2) the important game between Olympiakos and Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Although Ivic played in Thessaloniki, Baris and especially in Pauk where he also stood on the lines, there is no one who knows both Olympiakos and Maccabi Tel Aviv so well.
"This is the biggest football game that can be between a Greek team and an Israeli team," he said yesterday in a special interview with Walla!
Sports for the game tonight.
"Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel and Olympiacos in Greece are the two biggest, most decorated, most successful clubs. And when you want to think of the biggest meeting between Greek and Israeli football, you think of Olympiacos and Maccabi."
Will follow from afar.
Ivitch/Ariel Shalom
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Where are these meetings going?
"The current Olympiakos is not the Olympiakos of the beginning of the season or the months that followed. From the moment it appointed a new coach (the Spaniard Jose Luis Mandilivar), it changed its face. This is a completely different team, which is why it also ran with seven consecutive victories since its last loss to Panathinaikos." .
How it manifests itself?
"They changed their style. They play different football, much better. They played six games with Mandilivar and won all of them, and even before that there was one victory with a different coach. Olympiakos entered a good momentum."
Her players have finally entered a good period and are realizing what is expected of them?
"They have very high-quality players. Their squad is very large and there are many good tools."
So it will be very difficult for Maccabi Tel Aviv to get a good result.
"Tonight's game is a home game in Greece, at Olympiakos' stadium, which will be full, so it's obviously a big advantage. It's very difficult to play against them there when they're in a good time."
The odds are not in her favor, according to the ex.
Maccabi Tel Aviv/Ariel Shalom
How much do you follow Maccabi Tel Aviv?
"To be fair, I haven't seen a Maccabi Tel Aviv game in a long time, so I'm not completely familiar with the style of play at the moment. Of course, I'm following the results and I'm happy that Maccabi is in first place right now. The players are mostly the ones I coached and I know very well. Maccabi Tel Aviv has Excellent player material, but at this point in time it will be very difficult for them against Olympiakos."
So the odds are in favor of the Greeks?
"Mainly because of the time and momentum of Olympiakos. I estimate that if the game was two months ago, it would have been easier for Maccabi. Today, Olympiakos is better."
So you have to look for a good result and pull the decision to a rematch.
"The fact that Maccabi Tel Aviv cannot host the return match at Bloomfield is a big disadvantage. A return match in Israel, at a full Bloomfield, would have improved Maccabi's percentages. The positive momentum of Olympiakos, as well as Maccabi's home game in Serbia next week, both make the story much more Complicated and difficult. But come on, we're talking about football, and certainly when it comes to the biggest club in Israel, they have to believe in themselves and hope to get past Olympiakos."
More on the same topic:
Maccabi Tel Aviv in football
Olympiakos
Vladan Ivic