Olympiakos Piraeus’ 4-2-3-1 structure delivered territorial control but not penalty-box threat, and that disconnect defined a cagey 1-0 defeat to AEK Athens FC at Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium.
Luis Mendilibar set Olympiakos up with Konstantinos Tzolakis in goal behind a back four of Rodinei, Panagiotis Retsos, Lorenzo Pirola and Bruno Onyemaechi. The double pivot of Santiago Hezze and Dani García (shirt 14) was tasked with building through the middle, with Gelson Martins and Daniel Podence wide, Mehdi Taremi as a nominal No.10 and Ayoub El Kaabi as the lone striker. On paper this gave Olympiakos a clear 4-2-3-1 possession platform; in practice it produced long phases of sterile dominance.
Olympiakos finished with 62% of the ball, 487 total passes and a 75% completion rate, compared to AEK’s 38% possession and 306 passes at 62%. Yet the home side generated only 5 total shots, with just 1 on target and a meagre 0.22 expected goals. Crucially, only 2 of those attempts came from inside the box. AEK, in a 4-2-2-2 under Marko Nikolic, were more direct but marginally more dangerous: 7 total shots, 1 on target, 0.32 xG, and 2 efforts in the area. The difference was that AEK’s one accurate effort – Aboubakary Koita’s early strike on 5' – decided the game.
Nikolic’s 4-2-2-2 was built around compactness and vertical threat. Thomas Strakosha started in goal behind a back line of Lazaros Rota, Harold Moukoudi, Filipe Relvas and James Penrice. Răzvan Marin and Orbelín Pineda formed a double pivot, with Koita and Roberto Pereyra in the narrow “two tens” roles behind forwards Barnabás Varga and Luka Jović. Out of possession, AEK collapsed into a narrow 4-4-2/4-2-2-2 block, protecting the central lane where Olympiakos tried to progress via Hezze and Dani García. The visitors were content to concede width to Rodinei and Onyemaechi, trusting their centre-backs to defend crosses and their midfielders to collapse onto second balls.
The key tactical story was how effectively AEK turned Olympiakos’ possession into low-quality territory. Olympiakos’ 5 shots produced only 2 blocked attempts and very little penalty-box occupation; AEK, with 3 blocked shots out of 7, were more willing to shoot from distance but still found similar-quality looks. With both teams registering just 1 shot on goal, the difference was the early execution and AEK’s game-state management after taking the lead.
The first major inflection point came without the ball. Roberto Pereyra’s yellow card for a foul on 31' reflected AEK’s readiness to disrupt Olympiakos between the lines when Podence or Taremi found pockets. Three minutes later, Dani García’s yellow on 34' for Olympiakos underlined the home side’s own need to counter-press aggressively after turnovers, but it also constrained him for the remainder of his minutes in duels against Koita and Pineda.
Mendilibar’s substitutions were a clear attempt to add verticality and risk as the game drifted. On 58', Christos Mouzakitis (IN) came on for Dani García (OUT), effectively shifting the balance of the midfield from control to direct running and attacking support. One minute later, at 59', Chiquinho (IN) replaced Daniel Podence (OUT), offering a different profile between the lines: more combination play and central occupation, less pure dribbling. These moves tilted Olympiakos closer to a 4-1-4-1 in possession, with Hezze often left as the single pivot.
AEK responded with their own game-management changes on 64'. Petros Mantalos (IN) came on for Roberto Pereyra (OUT), adding fresh legs and tactical discipline in the right half-space. Simultaneously, Mijat Gaćinović (IN) replaced Luka Jović (OUT), signalling a shift towards a more conservative, hard-running second line behind Varga, with greater emphasis on protecting the lead rather than stretching the game with a second orthodox striker.
The disciplinary pattern reinforced AEK’s defensive posture. James Penrice’s yellow card for a foul on 67' was another tactical intervention to stop an Olympiakos transition, emblematic of a side willing to absorb 16 fouls and 2 bookings to control rhythm. Olympiakos, with 12 fouls and just the single yellow for Dani García, played aggressively but slightly less cynically in the middle third.
Mendilibar doubled down on attacking changes at 71'. Yusuf Yazıcı (IN) came on for Gelson Martins (OUT), bringing a left-footed playmaker capable of shooting from range and delivering from set pieces. Clayton (IN) replaced Mehdi Taremi (OUT), shifting El Kaabi’s reference points and adding another penalty-box runner. By this stage, Olympiakos’ shape often resembled a 4-2-4 in settled attacks, with wide players high and central runners flooding the last line. Yet the shot profile barely improved: AEK’s compact 4-2-2-2 block, anchored by Moukoudi and Relvas, continued to funnel attacks into harmless crosses and speculative efforts from outside the box.
Nikolic’s 80' double change further locked the game down. João Mário (IN) replaced Koita (OUT), trading the goalscorer’s direct threat for more defensive reliability and ball retention on the flank. Zini (IN) came on for Barnabás Varga (OUT), offering fresher legs to chase long clearances and contest aerials in the channels. For Olympiakos, the final roll of the dice came on 83', when Diogo Nascimento (IN) entered for Santiago Hezze (OUT). This removed the primary screening midfielder in favour of an extra progressive presence, effectively leaving Olympiakos with a very attack-heavy midfield at the risk of transitions.
The late VAR intervention on 90+10' – a goal cancelled for Christos Mouzakitis – encapsulated Olympiakos’ night: high possession, late chaos, but no reward. With both goalkeepers officially credited with 0 saves and team-level goals_prevented at 0, the defensive story was less about shot-stopping heroics and more about structural control. AEK’s back four and double pivot limited Olympiakos to 0.22 xG despite 62% possession, while their own 0.32 xG from just 7 shots was enough once Koita struck early.
Statistically, Olympiakos’ 5-7 shot deficit, 2-3 blocked shots comparison and identical 1-1 shots on target underline how little their dominance of the ball translated into clear chances. AEK’s 3 corners to Olympiakos’ 5 also reflect a game where the home side advanced the ball more often into wide attacking zones but lacked the central incision to break a well-organised 4-2-2-2 block. In the end, the tactical balance favoured AEK: compact without the ball, efficient with it, and structurally sound enough to withstand a late, numbers-heavy Olympiakos push.
