Olympiakos

Former Barcelona and Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure has denied he has retired from the sport, refuting comments from his agent Dimitri Seluk.

Per Get French Football News, the Ivorian told Sky Sports he will announce his retirement himself when the time comes:

Yaya Touré denies retiring to Sky: "When I will do it, I will do it by myself." - rarely in modern football has there been a player & their agent so constantly, publicly at loggerheads & yet remaining together as Seluk & Touré. https://t.co/uesqaoAny0

— Get French Football News (@GFFN) May 12, 2019

Earlier this week, Seluk told Sport24 (h/t Goal's Chris Burton) the 35-year-old had retired and wanted to try his hand at coaching or management:

"Of course, every football player wants to play for as long as possible. In terms of his physical condition, Yaya could do this at a sufficiently high level for another five years. But we came to the conclusion that he, the football player who played for Barcelona and Manchester City, could not lower the bar.

"We see many players who continue their careers at a mature age, and this is commendable. But Yaya and I chose a different path—to leave as a champion and start a new stage in life with a career as a coach."

Sportswriter Kristan Heneage provided some context to Toure's comments:

So, for context, David Jones asked Toure why he wasn't on the field for Man City's famous title win on the last day against QPR (I assume there was a funny story). Instead of telling that story Toure talked about not wanting to retire and how he didn't feel ready to coach. https://t.co/vAPTwn5x5d

— Kris Heneage (@KHeneage) May 12, 2019

Toure's appearance on Sky Sports created quite the stir:

https://twitter.com/diditcross/status/1127571994864685056

The all-round midfielder hasn't played in an official match since December 2018 with Olympiacos, and he last played for City in May of the same year, in a 3-1 win over Brighton & Hove Albion.

He won the Premier League three times with the Sky Blues and added two La Liga titles and a UEFA Champions League to his impressive resume with Barcelona.

Controversy often accompanied Toure during his time at the Etihad Stadium. In 2014, he threatened to leave the club after City didn't wish him a happy birthday, per the Sun (h/t Daily Mail's David Kent).

He also accused manager Pep Guardiola of having issues with African players, prompting Seluk to call on "African shamans" to place a curse on him, per Sport24 (h/t Football365). 

Olympiakos striker Alan Pulido was rescued on Sunday after being kidnapped in Mexico, according to ESPN FC's Tom Marshall.

"[Tamaulipas Gov. Egidio Torre Cantu] did not give more information on the details of Pulido's kidnapping, but a statement from the state government said the former Tigres player had been rescued shortly before midnight local time on Sunday in a joint operation carried out by state and federal forces."

"'I'm very well, thanks to God,' Pulido said in front of the assembled media, wearing a bandage around his right arm and looking visibly shaken," per Marshall.

Mirror's Tyrone Marshall reported on Monday that "Pulido fought with one of his kidnappers and then stole his phone to call cops" and he "cut a wrist trying to escape his abductors before he was rescued but was otherwise unhurt." Marshall also noted that one man was arrested.

The 25-year-old's brother, Armando, revealed the news of Pulido's kidnapping in an interview with Medio Tiempo (h/t the Sun's Tom Sheen) on Sunday: “Yes, it is true. He disappeared from the morning and we [are trying to] support the governor. We are waiting to see what happens.”

According to the official report, Pulido went missing in Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, early Sunday morning. He left a party at 11:30 p.m. local time, at which point trucks cornered his car and six masked men "took him away by force," per Sheen.  

He attended the party with his girlfriend, who was reportedly released unharmed.

Pulido joined Olympiakos in July 2015 but couldn't make his debut for the Greek club until January. Per WhoScored.com, he scored five goals in eight Super League appearances, including two in the final three matches of the 2015-16 campaign.

The forward wasn't selected for El Tri's Copa America squad but returned to Mexico for a vacation.

When the actual football was played on Sunday between Greece's two fiercest rivals, Olympiacos and Panathinaikos, Panathinaikos emerged victorious 2-1 on their home ground.

But the football was hardly the story, as it occasionally gets shifted into the background in the Derby of the Eternal Enemies.

Wild, wild scenes came out of the match, prompting Olympiacos president Evangelos Marinakis to brand the match (per the Mirror) "an atrocity for Greek football."  

Olympiacos manager Vitor Pereira did his typical pre-match routine of touching each net for luck, but the home support became enraged and charged the pitch. A chair can be seen being thrown at the Olympiacos boss. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLGmX8grUn8

Similarly, when the visitors took the pitch at the Stadio Apostolos Nikolaidis, flares and other debris were thrown at the players who had to retreat back into the tunnel, delaying kick-off for 15 minutes. 

Incredible photo from this weekend's Greek derby between Olympiakos and Panathinaikos: pic.twitter.com/UultxVZoJp

— Natter Football (@NATTERFOOTBALL) February 23, 2015

Y ayer se termino el carnaval(Foto del Panathinaikos vs Olympiakos 22/02/2015) #NoPyroNoParty pic.twitter.com/ca12MQQwjf

— Fran Central Element (@FranRMCFLad) February 23, 2015

Presidente do Olympiakos repudia "atrocidade" em violento clássico grego contra Panathinaikos http://t.co/n8mVi11JQV pic.twitter.com/DDr3RbQqbQ

— Esportes DP (@EsportesDP) February 23, 2015

Panathinaikos-Olympiacos 22.02.2015. pic.twitter.com/s3NCqqrEGG

— It's an ultra life (@itsultralife01) February 23, 2015

Marinakis went on to describe the scene, per the same Mirror report. 

What we saw out there I don't think I could have ever imagined. 

Our players cannot play well in these conditions and are heroes. It is an unprecedented situation. 

I saw the players. Some are beaten, others are upset, others are shocked. 

We did not come for war, we came to play football. 

[Mirror]

So much of Eric Abidal's playing career has been remarkable—the stuff of myth. But on Friday, at the age of 35, the defender announced his retirement.

His final match was on Wednesday, in which he played the full 90 minutes of Olympiakos' 2-0 win over Panionios.

Eric Abidal has retired from football. He will become a coach at Barcelona's academy. pic.twitter.com/RsqliYguYy

— All Football News (@AllFootballLive) December 18, 2014

Abidal joined Olympiakos on a two-year contract during the summer, but on Thursday manager Michel told Nova TV that the Frenchman had already made his decision to retire back in October, according to ESPN FC.

"I am proud to have been his coach this season," Michel added. "Personal decisions take precedent over those on the pitch."

It's expected Abidal will take on a coaching role with Barcelona's academy. It was during his time at Camp Nou, after all, that he experienced both the highs of on-field success and the lows of a health crisis.

Olympiakos manager Michel has confirmed that Éric Abidal will shortly be leaving the club.

— Get French Football News (@GFFN) December 17, 2014

In March 2011 the then-31-year-old was found to have a tumour in his liver. After undergoing surgery, he was rallied around by the entire football world, and even Real Madrid—Barcelona's eternal rival—posted a message of support on its stadium scoreboard.

Two months later, Abidal was starting the Champions League final against Manchester United, and following Barcelona's 3-1 victory, captain Carles Puyol gave him the armband so he could be the first of his teammates to lift the trophy.

It was the France international's second European Cup, and by then he had also won three La Liga titles, a trio of Ligue 1 championships with previous club Lyon and a pair of Copas del Rey.

But a year on from his initial liver procedure he required a transplant, after which he spent two months in hospital. This time a comeback to football was rather less certain, and it wasn't until the following October that he was able to resume training.

Nevertheless, Abidal persevered, and in April 2013 he returned to first-team action with Barcelona.

The following season he signed with Monaco, where he had first played professionally. He made 26 Ligue 1 appearances as the principality outfit finished runners-up to Paris Saint-Germain and qualified for the Champions League.

In July he made the move to Greece, but despite agreeing to a two-year pact he quickly resolved to retire before 2015.

Whether his body—challenged with so much in recent years—simply couldn't hold up to the rigours of day-to-day football any longer, or if he was merely eager to get into coaching at La Masia, will be revealed in due course.

On Friday, Abidal would only acknowledge that he knew the time had come—that his mind and body were no longer in it.

"The reasons are personal," he said (per Yahoo). "Every top-level player understands that there comes a time and my time has come."

On his future, he added: "Now what I want to do is rest and enjoy spending time with my family and then I will take some decisions as far as my future is concerned."

Whatever the case, he will leave the game with a legacy of someone who loved football so much that he overcame the odds to come back to it not once, but twice, and at the very highest level.

There has rarely been a better year to be a group winner in the Champions League. Even before Monday’s draw the gulf between the winners and runners-up was evident—and that sense was perhaps even greater for Manchester United and Chelsea, knowing they could not draw Manchester City or Arsenal.

So having come through a potentially tricky pool containing Bayer Leverkusen, Shakhtar Donetsk and Real Sociedad, many United fans are rubbing their hands at the prospect of a double-header against perennial Greek champions Olympiacos, especially as the Old Trafford club have played four, won four against them.

Yet that would be to underestimate Olympiacos’ considerable spirit and pedigree. At the time of writing, the men from Piraeus are again clear at the top of the Greek Super League, winning 13 and drawing one of their opening 14 matches.

They have scored 43 and conceded just four in a competition conditioned by the financial struggles of Panathinaikos and the ruin of AEK Athens. It may be hard to judge the true value of their domestic dominance in this context, but Michel’s men have already shown their quality in the Champions League.

After enduring a biblical flood in Lisbon that briefly threatened to wash away their hopes, Olympiacos will charge United with being near their best to beat them to a place in the quarter-finals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITysl1oP2ZA

Famed across the continent for the atmospheric Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium, they have flourished away from home in this season’s Champions League, winning handsomely at Anderlecht and drawing at Benfica and narrowly losing at Paris Saint-Germain.

They are also much more than simply Kostas Mitroglou plus ten, though the importance of the Greece international must be underlined. He is powerful and prolific, having scored 17 goals in 14 club games this season, as well as a crucial brace in the World Cup play-off against Romania.

Yet there is more to the 25-year-old than that. Thought of as tactically naïve and ineffective outside the penalty area by his coaches on his arrival in Greece from German reserve football, he has grown enormously.

That he should hold up the ball effectively is no shock, but he has a surprisingly light touch, as he showed in his role creating Chori Dominguez’s fine goal that gave Olympiacos the lead at Benfica.

Those games against Benfica were a tipping point for Michel’s side. At the Estadio da Luz, they passed the Europa League finalists off the park until the deluge halted their rhythm, with Mitroglou missing one chance to hit a clinching goal as the ball stuck in the water at point-blank range and he ran straight past it.

They are technically adroit and durable. Dominguez, Javier Saviola and David Fuster provide experience and quality, while Sambou Yatabare and Delvin N’Dinga bring strength in midfield. Captain Giannis Maniatis marshals the team at the back.

Olympiacos’ grit was clear in the return, as they weathered a different kind of storm, with the Portuguese giants reacting strongly.

On that occasion, goalkeeper Roberto stepped up, making a string of extraordinary saves. His time at Benfica had been blighted by high-profile errors, but he has recovered his confidence.

There are a clutch among the second-placed pack who would have suited United better. Zenit always appear jittery and nervous in pressure situations, despite their considerable outlay on players in the last 18 months.

Schalke are perpetually leaky from set-pieces and incredibly vulnerable on the counter-attack. Milan, meanwhile, are lucky to even be in the last 16 after the battering they took from Ajax in the final group match at the San Siro—fortunately for them, without reparation.

David Moyes’ side are undisputed favourites—especially given their Champions League results to date—and Olympiacos are simply happy to have such a plum tie, as Michel made clear after the draw (report on the club's website - here). Yet the soul of this team, forged under an atmosphere of immense expectation, is considerable. United must tread carefully.

In another relatively boring preseason game, the Cavaliers took on Greece's best team, the Olympiakos.

The team featured former NBA player Josh Childress and Sofoklis Schortsanitis (aka Baby Shaq). Schortsanitis was best known for his performance in the 2006 Olympics when the USA was defeated.

The Cavaliers never trailed in this game and went on to beat Olmpiakos 111-94. Daniel Gibson was the high man for the Cavaliers with 15 points.

Josh Childress led his Olympiakos team with 16 points, shooting .500 from the field and hitting both of his three-point attempts. Baby Shaq had four points while "grown up" Shaq scored 12 points and added a block on his predecessor.

J.J. Hickson continued to impress as he scored 13 points in what has been a very productive preseason for the forward.

Jamario Moon did not suit up, still ailing from two wisdom teeth he had removed last Friday. Mo Williams was not in action, resting from a sore groin. And Delonte West has still yet to dress for a preseason game. The troubled guard is still sorting personal issues out.

This could leave the Cavaliers to find a replacement shooting guard. For all of the preseason games, Anthony Parker has been starting. Anthony added 10 points in the game against Olympiakos in 24 minutes.

He started in Toronto for three years, and in 2007 he started all 82 games. His stats are fairly impressive, as he has averaged 10.1 PPG for his career.

If the Cavaliers needed to, starting Parker wouldn't be terrible. West's career scoring average is 10.2 PPG. If I were Danny Ferry, I would be tempted to release him, but it may only make him more unstable.

The Cavaliers next game is against the Washington Wizards on Wednesday. I don't see why Moon will sit out this game, but he may want to rest just for precautionary reasons.

The unfortunate series of events that has come over the Houston Rockets' organization just got a little worse.

Reports on Hoopsworld.com and Eurobasket.com are saying that free agent Von Wafer will sign with Olympiacos, a wealthy team based in Greece.  This coming hours after the team announced that they agreed to a two-year deal worth around $12 million with Linas Kleiza. 

The disheartening news comes as another blow to the Rockets' organization, as they were already looking for help on the offensive end with the huge losses of superstars Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady. 

Wafer, an undrafted free agent from Florida State, quickly excelled to have a breakout year for the Rockets off the bench and more than capably filled in for the oft-injured McGrady.  He averaged just under 10 points a game last year at 9.7 and held a .390 shooting percentage from the three-point line.

Wafer became a fan favorite and was expected by many to be back in a Rocket uniform in the 2009-10 season.  It has been speculated that when the Rockets picked up rookies Jermaine Taylor and Chase Budinger via trade in the draft, it all but ended Wafer's short tenure with the team. 

The New York Knicks were among the other potential suitors for Wafer's offensive services, but, when they courted other veteran free agents, Wafer decided going overseas was his best available option.  

Wafer will receive more of a chance to showcase his offensive capabilities with the Greek club.  He is one of several NBA players that have opted to take their skills overseas in search of a larger contract and more playing time.

Wafer had 14 games last season in which he scored 15 or more points, his highest total coming Jan. 13 against the Los Angeles Lakers, when he scored 23 points.

Tottenham v Olympiakos, pre-season friendly, August 9, 2009

Tottenham 8/11; Draw 23/10; Olympiakos 16/5

Spurs take on the Greek double winners at White Hart Lane on Sunday in the Lillywhites last pre-season fixture before their Premier League curtain-raiser against Liverpool.

Several reasons point to Olympiakos as favourites in this match. With newly appointed former Newcastle nutter Temuri Ketsbaia now in charge, the Greeks have so far started the 2009/10 season in perfect fashion. A 3-3 draw with Bochum has so far been the only time Olympiakos haven’t walked away with victory since they retook the field this summer, having notched up wins over Heerenveen (1-0), FC Zwolle (3-0), Groningen (2-0) and back-to-back 2-0 wins in the Champions League qualifiers against Slovan Bratislava.

Olympiakos’ terrific early season form has been backed by an aggressive summer transfer policy. Having proved a revelation at the back end of last season in his loan move from Blackburn, the capture of Matt Derbyshire was quickly sown up once the window opened.

Joining Derbyshire was ex-Premier League legend Olof Mellberg, Raul Bravo (formerly of Leeds United ignominy), and just last week a fourth signing arrived as ex-Baggies Enzo Maresca joined from Sevilla.

With a healthy splattering of quality players already on their books, including forwards Diogo and Luciano Galletti, Spurs will have a tough time keeping the visitors at bay. (Tottenham are 11/10 to keep a clean sheet against the Greeks.)

Spurs’ problems worsen due to their terrible defensive crisis which has already hit the North Londoners even before the season starts. For over a decade now, regardless of how many signings have joined the club there has been a constant sense that Tottenham have been struck by some injury hoodoo. And now the curse has hit once more.

Harry Redknapp can only call on one recognised centre-half, Vedran Corluka, with the crippled triumvirate of Michael Dawson, Ledley King and Johnaton Woodgate all resting up on the treatment table. The hope is that defensive matters will be improved by the introduction of a new signing before the weekend—rumours seem to point to the imminent arrival of Sebastien Bassong from Newcastle.

With Darren Bent now out the picture with Sunderland, Jermaine Defoe, Robbie Keane, Roman Pavlyuchenko and new signing Peter Crouch will all be vying for places up-front, while much of Spurs’ year ahead rests on the shoulders of Wilson Palacios as the driving force in the Tottenham midfield.

Spurs’ pre-season has so far shown consistent progress, particularly during their successful trip to China in the Barclays Asia Trophy, but against Olympiakos Redknapp’s charges will face their toughest challenge of the summer.

101predicts: Tottenham 1- Olympiakos 2 (12/1)

Tottenham 8/11; Draw 23/10; Olympiakos 16/5

Full match odds here.

When you think of great rivalries in world football what do you think of?

Do you think AC Milan and Inter fighting it out at the San Siro? How about Manchester United going for Liverpool's throat at Old Trafford? Or perhaps you're Spanish and you think of Barcelona and Real Madrid fighting for dominance at the Camp Nou?

After a succesful start to the series, I continue my journey. This time, I head to Athens, Greece, where you can find Olympiacos FC and Panathinaikos FC fighting it out in the "Derby of the Eternal Enemies" or as some call it, "The Mother of all Battles."

Athens is known as a place of cultural and historical importance in the world. From Athens we get the Olympics and gyros. You will also get some of the most passionate football fans in Europe there.

The derby between the Red-Whites and the Greens is more than just a football derby to fans there. It's a social, cultural, and regional rivalry.

To get the full picture, let's take a look at the two clubs and where they're located in the Athens.

The two major clubs of Greece are Olympiacos and Panathinaikos. The former is located in the port city of Piraeus and the latter is located in Athens. Any two clubs located in those areas will have a fierce rivalry. To find out why, we need a history lesson.

Traditionally, Piraeus was a separate city from Athens, one of the two most important cities of Attica (which is ancient Greece). The other most important city was Athens. After Athens was declared the capital of modern Greece in 1832, Piraeus evolved from a deserted city into a populous port city. The importance of Piraeus became evident during the Greco-Turkish War. After the war, Piraeus experienced an population explosion. This explosion brought in so many Greek refugees that the city of Piraeus became part of Athens once again. 

Now to the clubs. 

Olympiacos is known as the King of Greek Football. Founded in 1925, Olympiacos was created in the port of Athens known as Piraeus. Traditionally, Olympiacos has been a club of the working class. They are the most successful club in Greece. They have won the Greek League 36 times, the Greek Cup 23 times, 3 Greek Super Cups and 1 Balkans Cup. There are also regular features in Europe and their best performance was in the 1998-199 Champions League. They managed to make it to the quarterfinals, where Juventus defeated them. Panathinaikos fans call Olympiakos fans 'gavroi', which is some kind of fish, but their official nickname is the Reds or Red-Whites. Former and current star players include Rivaldo, Georgios Anatolakis, Nery Castillo, Mirnes Šišić, and Predrag Đorđević.

Panathinaikos, founded in 1908, is one of the oldest club in Greece. Traditionally, Panathinaikos has been known as the club of the upper class. However, in recent years, both clubs are now very similar. They have not been as successful as their cross-city rivals. They have won 19 Greek championship titles, 16 Greek Cups and in 1971 they reached the European Champion Clubs' Cup final. Unlike Olympiacos, the club has had a history of trouble. Among them, is the fiasco of Gate 13 which is made up of radical fans unhappy with the club's performance and the state of the club's finances. Former and current star players include Walter Wagner, Borivoje Đorđević, Juan José Borrelli, Theofanis Gekas, Dimitris Salpigidis, and Gilberto Silva.

Why is this derby included in the series? Well, I think the photo sums it up. The Greens absolutely hate the Red-Whites; and the Red-Whites absolutely hate the Greens. Whenever they meet, you are almost certain, frenzied fans and sometimes riots. Sadly, there have deaths and riots during derbies between the two. For days, the city of Athens and Greece as a whole come to a stand still. What happens on the pitch very much determines what happens on the border of the two areas.

As in Buenos Aires, this is more than a football rivalry. It's a cultural, and economical. A battle between the working and upper class. Between the refugees and the classics. For those reasons and more, the rivalry between Olympiacos and Panathinaikos is one of the great rivalries of world football.

Great Rivalries In World Football: Boca Juniors vs. River Plate