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Wednesday's fixture was just the third meeting between Greek and Cypriot sides in the top tier of European club football Ten-man Pafos produced a disciplined display to claim a hard-fought draw on their Champions League debut at Olympiacos. The Cypriot champions were good value for their point against their Greek counterparts, with their ambitions to win the contest severely hampered by right-back Bruno Felipe's 26th-minute dismissal for collecting two yellow cards. The withdrawal of former Chelsea defender David Luiz forced another reshuffle at the back as the visitors' problems appeared to be mounting. However, Juan Carlos Carcedo's side held firm despite the hosts ramping up the pressure during the second half. While Olympiacos monopolised possession and territory, that did not translate into a glut of clear-cut opportunities to score. Having already defeated established names like Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Dynamo Kyiv and Red Star Belgrade to reach this stage, Pafos delivered a fine rearguard action. It took a stinging long-range effort from captain Panagiotis Retsos, palmed to safety by visiting goalkeeper Neofytos Michael, for the home side to register a shot on target after 68 minutes. Michael was also called into action to deny Retsos from the resulting corner. Olympiacos' Mehdi Taremi came close to levelling the playing field when he was initially shown a straight red card for a tackle on Jaja during a Pafos counter-attack, but a VAR review downgraded it to a yellow. And it was only during the final 10 minutes that the visitors' eight-match unbeaten run away from home looked in danger, with the Iran forward having one effort blocked and miscuing another wide. After the opportunity to rate players has closed, the score displayed represents the average from all the submissions by BBC Sport users. Comments can not be loaded To load Comments you need to enable Java Script in your browser Last Updated 17th September 2025 at 20: 50 Please Note: All times UK. Tables are subject to change. The BBC is not responsible for any changes that may be made. Manager: José Luis Mendilibar Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 Manager: Juan Carlos Carcedo Formation: 4 - 1 - 4 - 1 Manager: José Luis Mendilibar Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 Manager: Juan Carlos Carcedo Formation: 4 - 1 - 4 - 1 UEFA Champions League All competitions This will be just the third fixture played between a Greek and Cypriot side in European Cup/UEFA Champions League history, following PAOK Salonika v Omonia Nicosia in 1976-77 (first round, two legs) and Panathinaikos v Anorthosis Famagusta in 2008-09 (group stage, home and away). Olympiakos will face off against a Cypriot side in major European competition for the first time since 2016-17, when they were beaten home and away by APOEL Nicosia in the UEFA Europa League group stage. Pafos will be the eighth Cypriot team to appear in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League, and first since APOEL Nicosia in the 2017-18 edition (eliminated in the group stage). Since a run of three wins in a row between September and November 2015, Olympiakos have lost 16 of their last 20 games in the UEFA Champions League (W2 D2) – among all teams to play 100+ games in the European Cup/Champions League since 1955/56, only Sporting CP (52%) have lost a higher ratio of their matches than the Greek side (51. 9%, 81 defeats in 156 games). Prior to 2025-26, the only previous major European competition campaign for Pafos came last season in the UEFA Conference League. They won five of their 10 games in the tournament (D2 L3), and were eliminated in the last 16 by Swedish side Djurgården (3-1 on aggregate). José Luis Mendilibar has managed two games in the UEFA Champions League previously, drawing both with Sevilla in the 2023/24 group stage, against Lens and PSV. He’ll be the third Spaniard to manage Olympiakos in the competition, along with Ernesto Valverde and Míchel. Since the start of the 2023-24 season, the player with the most goals scored in major European competition is Olympiakos forward Ayoub El Kaabi (21 goals in 23 appearances). In this period, he has netted 10 goals in 14 games in the UEFA Europa League and 11 goals in nine outings in the Conference League. Mislav Orsic has averaged a goal every other game in his UEFA Champions League career, scoring six goals in 12 appearances (all for former club Dinamo Zagreb). Olympiakos forward Mehdi Taremi averaged the most high-intensity pressures per 90 of any player in the UEFA Champions League last season (76 – min. 500 minutes played). Indeed, he was one of only two players to make 100+ in a league phase match last term (102 v Manchester City), along with Julián Alvarez (108 v Bayer Leverkusen). Mislav Orsic is one of only 10 players in UEFA Champions League history (since 1992-93) to score a hat-trick on his debut in the competition. Indeed, since he did so for Dinamo Zagreb in September 2019 (v Atalanta), only one other player has managed to do so (Ajax’s Sébastien Haller v Sporting CP in September 2021).   Attempt saved. Ayoub El Kaabi (Olympiakos) header from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal by Neofytos Michael (Pafos). Assisted by Daniel Podence with a through ball. Foul by Chiquinho (Olympiakos). Vlad Dragomir (Pafos) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Attempt missed. Vlad Dragomir (Pafos) left footed shot from the right side of the box is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by Mislav Orsic. Substitution, Pafos. Ken Sema replaces Jajá. Substitution, Pafos. Bruno Langa replaces João Correia. Attempt missed. Francisco Ortega (Olympiakos) left footed shot from the left side of the box is too high. Substitution, Olympiakos. Giulian Biancone replaces Lorenzo Pirola. Substitution, Olympiakos. Stavros Pnevmonidis replaces Santiago Hezze. Attempt missed. Mislav Orsic (Pafos) right footed shot from outside the box is just a bit too high from a direct free kick. Mehdi Taremi (Olympiakos) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul. VAR Decision: No Red Card Mehdi Taremi (Olympiakos). Foul by Mehdi Taremi (Olympiakos). Jajá (Pafos) wins a free kick in the attacking half. Attempt saved. Panagiotis Retsos (Olympiakos) header from the right side of the six yard box is saved in the top centre of the goal by Neofytos Michael (Pafos). Assisted by Christos Mouzakitis with a cross. Corner, Olympiakos. Conceded by Neofytos Michael. Attempt saved. Panagiotis Retsos (Olympiakos) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom right corner by Neofytos Michael (Pafos). Assisted by Ayoub El Kaabi. Attempt blocked. Daniel Podence (Olympiakos) right footed shot from the left side of the box is blocked. Assisted by Christos Mouzakitis. Attempt missed. Ayoub El Kaabi (Olympiakos) header from the left side of the six yard box is close, but misses to the left. Attempt missed. Christos Mouzakitis (Olympiakos) left footed shot from outside the box misses to the right. Assisted by Chiquinho with a cross following a corner. Copyright © 2025 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.