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Malmö v Olympiacos background

Malmö FF look to bounce back from their defeat at Juventus when they host Group A rivals Olympiacos FC on matchday two, the Swedish champions' first Greek test.

Coach Åge Hareide has led Malmö into the UEFA Champions League group stage for the first time
Coach Åge Hareide has led Malmö into the UEFA Champions League group stage for the first time ©Getty Images

Malmö FF will look to bounce back from their opening defeat at Juventus when they host Group A rivals Olympiacos FC on matchday two.

Match background

Malmö
• For Malmö, runners-up in the 1978/79 European Champion Clubs' Cup, this is the first home match in the UEFA Champions League proper.

• The Swedish champions are facing Greek opposition for the first time in their 37th European campaign.

• Åge Hareide's side did not concede a goal in their three home UEFA Champions League qualifiers this season – against FK Ventspils (0-0), AC Sparta Praha (2-0) and FC Salzburg (3-0). They are unbeaten at home in seven games in UEFA competition, having kept a clean sheet in each of them.

• In their only previous group stage experience – the 2011/12 UEFA Europa League – Malmö took just one point from three home fixtures.

Olympiacos
• Olympiacos kicked off with a 3-2 home win over 2013/14 runners-up Club Atlético de Madrid on matchday one, reversing a three-year trend of starting the group stage with a defeat in Piraeus.

• On their travels in last term's competition they won at RSC Anderlecht (3-0), drew at SL Benfica (1-1) and then lost at Paris Saint-Germain (1-2) and Manchester United FC (0-3).

• Their four-point haul on their travels in 2013/14 represented their best away performance in the competition in their past four campaigns.

• Their sole preceding encounter with Swedish opponents was against Östers IF in the 1982/83 European Cup first round. Olympiacos won 2-0 at home and lost 1-0 away.

Coach and player links
• Olympiacos's Jimmy Durmaz was a Malmö player from 2008–12, making 91 league appearances and scoring 14 goals.

• Durmaz is a team-mate of MFF's Emil Forsberg with Sweden.

• As Norway coach, Hareide faced Greece in UEFA EURO 2008 qualifying, losing 1-0 at the Stadio Georgios Karaiskakis before drawing 2-2 at home.

• Markus Rosenberg was in the SV Werder Bremen team beaten home (1-3) and away (0-3) by Olympiacos in the 2007/08 group stage. Olympiacos's victory in Bremen on 3 October 2007 was their first away from home in 32 attempts in the UEFA Champions League era.

• Rosenberg's Bremen also lost 3-0 at home to Panathinaikos FC in the 2008/09 group stage.

• Rosenberg was a substitute in Sweden's 2-0 triumph against Greece at UEFA EURO 2008.

• Ibrahim Afellay hit his first two goals for the Netherlands in a 4-1 home success over Sweden in UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying in October 2010. Afellay's PSV Eindhoven prevailed 2-1 in Sweden in a 2007/08 UEFA Cup round of 32 tie at Helsingborgs IF (aggregate 4-1).

• Isaac Thelin struck twice in a 23-minute substitute outing for Sweden against Andreas Bouchalakis's Greece in a UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifier in Halmstad on 5 September.

Match facts

Malmö

• Emil Forsberg scored a hat-trick on Saturday – his second of the season – as Malmö came from a goal down to beat Mjällby AIF 4-1 at home.

• It took Forsberg's tally to 13 league goals this season, his best ever top-flight return.

• Malmö are 12 games unbeaten at home, winning eight during that time.

• Ricardinho, out since 23 August with a knee injury, returned to play 90 minutes on Saturday. He was an unused substitute for Malmö's 1-0 victory at Halmstads BK on 24 September.

• Simon Thern has resumed full training after recovering from a broken fibula sustained in July.

• Robin Olsen has kept an Allsvenskan-best ten clean sheets this season.

Olympiacos

• Olympiacos's five-game unbeaten start to the season ended on Saturday, going down 1-0 at Atromitos FC. Tasos Karamanos, a 24-year-old forward on loan from Olympiacos, scored the only goal.

• Kostas Mitroglou, whose strike against Atlético made him the Piraeus side's all-time top scorer in the UEFA Champions League with ten goals, converted a penalty in the 3-0 triumph over Veria FC on 20 September.

• Μíchel's team defeated second-tier Panachaiki FC 1-0 on 23 September in the Greek Cup group stage.

• Dimitris Siovas completed 90 minutes in Patras on his first competitive outing since breaking an ankle in January but suffered a thigh injury that rules him out of matchday two. David Fuster picked up a groin problem against Panachaiki.

• Leandro Salino pulled his right thigh in training ahead of the Atlético match, ruling him out of the encounters with Veria, Panachaiki and Atromitos.

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