Trouble for Scotland in Greece's Olympiakos Stadium - but hope for Steve Clarke's men on goals issue

Apartment buildings dominate the tight streets of Neo Faliro. Shuffling through the congestion and graffiti, you stumble upon the sporting jewel in Piraeus’ crown. A crowd of 33,000 will cram into the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium on Thursday evening ready to roar, burn and smoke out Scotland in the Nations League play-off first leg. Hostility is a Greek speciality, particularly in this intimidating venue.

The Greek Football Federation moved national team matches back to the Karaiskakis last August. Ignoring the chance to use the 70,000 capacity Olympic Stadium just 12 miles away in Athens, they returned to Faliro for its unique and fervent atmosphere. It was a shrewd decision and one which Scotland should be mindful of heading there this week.

Greece boast an impressive record both at home and away under the Serbian coach Ivan Jovanovic, appointed following their failure to beat Georgia on penalties and qualify for Euro 2024 just 12 months ago. The inspired choice of home venue gives them an edge and they confront Scotland after six wins from their last seven matches. That run includes a victory over England at Wembley, two over Republic of Ireland and two against Finland.

Beating Malta 2-0 in a friendly in Austria last June set off a chain of results which takes the Greeks to the cusp of Nations League A. Beat Scotland over two legs and they will earn promotion, thus sending the Scots down to League B. Jovanovic took charge after that Malta friendly and oversaw a 3-0 triumph against Finland in the opening Nations League fixture last September in Piraeus. Next came a 2-0 success in Ireland and a historic 2-1 win over England in London - the only time Greece have beaten the English.

Jovanovic’s team then overcame Ireland 2-0 in the Karaiskakis before their only aberration under his tutelage to date. England avenged their defeat by winning 3-0 in Athens in November, that game staged at the aforementioned Olympic Stadium. After beating Finland 2-0 in Helsinki to secure a play-off with the Scots, Greece will return to Piraeus ready to crank up the noise once again.

Late goals for Netherlands, France, Germany and England will give Scotland hope

Results over recent months indicate they don’t lose many goals. However, for Scotland, hope stems from the detail. When Greece do concede, it is often late in games. A tendency to switch off in the closing stages has cost them some big results against major nations over the last 18 months.

They lost a European Championship qualifier at home to Netherlands because of a 93rd-minute Virgil van Dijk penalty in October 2023. The next month, another home game against France ended 2-2 when Youssouf Fofana equalised on 74 minutes. Germany beat Greece 2-1 in a friendly last June courtesy of Pascal Gross’ 89th-minute winner. October’s unprecedented win at Wembley was secured with Vangelis Pavlidis’ stoppage-time goal, but only after Jude Bellingham drew England level at 1-1 on 87 minutes.

It is also worth noting that November’s match between the two nations in Athens included Odysseas Vlachodimos’ own goal putting England 2-0 ahead on 77 minutes before Curtis Jones added a third on 83 minutes. Scotland coaching staff will surely underline the merits of staying alive and ready for opportunities in the latter stages of both legs this week.

If the Scots can handle the atmosphere and ignore the intimidation on Thursday, they can find chinks in the opposition armour at a ground named after a leader in the Greek War of Independence. It promises to be a fascinating battle.

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