Finishing third in the Belgian league last season, “Genk” deeply disappointed their fans the team was just a hair’s breadth away from winning the title before the final round of the championship. In the new edition of the national championship, the “Smurfs” started with a convincing victory over “RVDM” (0:4), but a few days later suffered a defeat to “Eupen” (0:1). However, over the past weekend, the hosts returned to their previous level, prevailing over “Cercle Brugge” (0:1). In the European arena, the Belgians lost to “Servette” on penalties in the second round of the Champions League qualifiers (3:3 on aggregate), and then were defeated by “Olympiacos” with a score of 1:0 in the first leg of the Europa League ? qualifying round a goal by Kostas Fortounis in the first minute settled the match. It’s worth noting that “Genk” has failed to win any of their last four official matches at their home stadium. Just like last week, the young Gambian newcomer Aliou Fadera (Zulte-Waregem) will be unavailable due to injury. Nevertheless, Trezor Ndayishimiye (8 goals, 24 assists) and Heynen (11 goals, 4 assists in the league last season) remain fit, along with Colombian Munoz (8 goals, 5 assists last year) and Joseph Paintsil (17 goals, 12 assists in the league). During the transfer window, the team was joined by Joris Kayembe (Charleroi), while defenders Karstenssen (Cologne), Nicolas Castro (Elche), and Samatta (PAOK, 6 goals last season) chose to leave the club. Joris Kayembe has recovered from injury and started in the weekend match, leaving Aziz Uatara and Christopher Bonsu Ba on the bench.
After years of dominance in the Greek championship, “Olympiacos” has recently slowed down, finishing in 3rd place in the league table last spring, following Athens-based “AEK” and “Panathinaikos”. Last week, the players from Piraeus won their first official match of the season (1:0), without shining particularly. Earlier in the summer, partners of Youssef El Arabi strengthened their confidence in matches against “Slovan” (2:1), “Nordsj?lland” (1:1), “Sabah” (1:1), and “Glasgow Rangers” (1:3), but then suffered a defeat to “Norwich” (2:0) in the final friendly match. Of course, the club’s coach, Martinez, will have the first-round championship match with “Panetolikos” in mind, which will take place over the weekend, but currently, all efforts will be focused on maintaining the minimal advantage in Genk. Many well-known former footballers of “Olympiacos” have chosen new career development options for themselves this summer. Among them are Mathieu Valbuena (Apollon Limassol), Yann M’Vila, De la Fuente (Marseille), and Cedric Bakambu (Al-Nassr, then Galatasaray) the latter became the team’s top scorer with 18 goals. On the other hand, newcomers to the red-and-white ranks include Ayoub El Kaabi (Al-Sadd), defender Jackson Porozo (Troyes), right-back Cuinny (Granada), and midfielder Iborra (Villarreal). Still available are midfielder Pape Abou Cisse (9 goals), forward El-Arabi (6 goals), and South Korean In-Beom Hwang (3 goals). More 90% accurate football predictions can be obtained from the link provided.
