Via Niche Cache. A post game chat with Marko. Was the 100th anniversary of Olympiakos on the weekend. So important to beat OFI https://youtu.be/4ynzrsVxqLI
2-1 won Olympiakos, but a 4-2 loss on agg and their Europa League journey is over.
Bodo / Glimt scored in the first to lead 4-0 on agg. However at HT the Geeks brought on their young gun 18 yr old midfielder Mouzakitis (the guy mostly keeping Stamenic on the outer), and he got 2 assists to give Olympiakos some hope. Fellow HT sub Ukrainian Yaremchuk the scorer for both goals. Bringing it to 4-2 on agg at 65 mins.
But nothing after that. Olympiakos had their keeper sent off at 88 mins. Stamenic an unused sub.
No league game this weekend, so Marko should be an early arrival in NZ. Tea time in Stokes Valley.
Stamenic an unused sub in a 4-2 win. AEK Athens (2nd) lost to PAOK, so Olympiakos (1st) go 10 pts clear, it would have to go majorly wrong from here for them not to be league champions.
18 yr old midfield star Mouzakitis off at HT (had yet another assist in the 1st half), so if it's a serious injury that will give Marko a chance of some future mins.
Olympiakos 6-0 up from the first leg, have the 2nd leg of their Greek Cup semi at AEK Athens midweek.
So a rare start for Stamenic and an even rarer full game. 7 league starts and twice not subbed off.
Gets a late yellow as Olympiakos win 2-0.
Two more league games and then the Cup final against OFI on the 17th May.
Whether Marko stays in Athens longer term, may depend alot on what happens with Olympiakos young gun Mouzakitis. Lots of transfer rumours about him apparently.
It may have only been pride on the line but Stamenic had plenty of that to offer as he sought to take his rare opportunity and given the rivalry between Olympiacos and AEK Athens... pride is more than enough. Olympiacos did the job with a 2-0 victory (the fifth time from six matches that they’ve beaten their arch-rival this season) and Stamenic finally got a positive reception from the ruthless Greek media. He was used as more of a box to box midfielder rather than the less effective defensive midfield duties he usually gets and his energy and workrate shone throughout. Just check out his footwork in creating the move for their first goal...
There was an opinion piece in one of the Greek outlets recently expressing a bit of sympathy about how Stamenic’s time with the red and whites has unfolded. Basically they said he hasn’t always played to the level that the club desired (part of which being that they’ve asked him to play too deep, sorry for the interjection) but also that this midfield was a tough nut to crack regardless...
“[Stamenic] wasn't as bad as he was made out to be. We're not saying this because of his good performance at Nea Filadelfia a week ago against AEK and because of the serious possibility of seeing him play again against PAOK. He simply took a while to get into the mood and Olympiacos doesn't have much time to wait for new transfers to acclimatize.”
From there, the bloke says that even if Stamenic wasn’t on loan, it’d be unlikely that Olympiacos want him back. The fit just didn’t work. However, there was a note in there about Red Star Belgrade being interested in re-signing him on loan if they can make the stars align with Nottingham Forest. Crvena Zvezda have already cruised to another Serbian league title so they’ll be getting Champions League qualifiers next season and all hands will be required on deck.
Greek Cup final and Olympiakos host underdogs OFI from Crete. Marko likely on the bench, and it will be his last match it seems in Athens. But a great chance to get that 3 season consecutive trifecta. League & Cup doubles in Denmark, Serbia and now Greece.
For a man who clearly loves a Souvlaki, Evangelos Marinakis does strangely loves a white t shirt. That Lear jet must be busy flying between Athens & Nottingham at the moment.
That’s the end of Stamenic’s time at the club. Loan complete. There were some good performances, there were some winners medals, there were some hearty celebrations. There were also a lot of annoying stretches where he hardly played and had to cope with the ruthless Greek media hyperanalysing his every move. All combined he made 23 appearances for the club (adding up to 943 minutes) across the Super League, the Greek Cup, and the Europa League. He’ll have gained plenty from this season but it was a frustrating one on the whole. Now it’s over.
But not before Marko Stamenic completed an absolutely incredible feat, winning league and cup doubles in three consecutive countries in three consecutive years. It happened in 2022-23 with FC København in Denmark. It happened in 2023-24 with Crvena zvezda in Serbia. It’s happened in 2024-25 with Olympiacos in Greece. This is near-impossible to research but you’ve gotta imagine there aren’t too many folks who’ve done that before. It’s certainly never happened on this scale for a New Zealander. It Stamenic never wins another trophy in his career, he’ll still be one of the most decorated players we’ve ever produced. Plus who’s to say he won’t make it four in a row next season in another country.
Forest fans are made of absolute plastic. Quite similar to Olympiacos fans.
He’s literally played his first 45 minutes in a meaningless pre season friendly where he’s never played with any of these players bar 1 before and is coming off a holiday. Probably only met these guys a few days ago too.
Forest fans are looking to throw fire at anyone with the events of Elanga leaving and the MGW situation.
Marinakis especially and its fans are strongly becoming one of the most unlikeable clubs in the Prem.
Give it a couple pre season games (if he gets any more) before a potential loan and see what he produces.
Seems there’s a possibility he’ll head on another loan to Olympiakos this season. Really not ideal, that. Greek fans don’t rate him at all, but Marko really wants the move
Could depend what happens with young gun midfielder Christos Mouzakitis. Lots of rumours he will leave Olympiakos. Could he end up at Forest, with Gibbs-White leaving?
Olympiakos are in the Champions League, which will be an attraction for Stamenic.
