Olympiacos - owned by Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis - have exited the Champions League early after suffering an embarrassing 4-0 home defeat to Maccabi Haifa.
The perennial Greek champions drew the first leg 1-1 in Israel after Forest promotion hero Philip Zinckernagel's early opener was cancelled out in the 92nd minute by Dolev Haziza. But, in returning to the infamous Karaiskakis Stadium all square, Olympiacos appeared as favourites to advance through the second qualifying round tie.
That script went out of the window inside five minutes as former Queens Park Rangers striker Tjarron Chery opened the scoring. A one-goal advantage persisted until the hour mark, despite one former Reds player Andreas Bouchalakis being replaced by another in Joao Carvalho at half-time, when Frantzdy Pierrot scored a four-minute brace to effectively end the tie. Mohammed Abu Fani added a fourth three minutes from time.
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While Olympiacos will remain in European competition after dropping down into Europa League qualifying at the third round, where they will face Slovan Bratislava next month, it could nonetheless have a knock-on effect on Forest's season. This is, after all, the second straight season that the club have failed to reach the group stages after being knocked out a stage later by Bulgarian outfit Ludogorets Razgrad a year ago.
Forest fans will hope that this sees Marinakis go all in on Forest with lucrative Champions League group stages no longer a possibility for the team from his homeland. Alternatively, another failure and having to settle for only an appearance in the Europa League could mean funds are diverted to Piraeus in the hope of strengthening the side so that it doesn't happen for a third time 12 months from now.
Do you think Olympiacos' exit helps or hinders Forest? Have your say in the comments...
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