Thursday night at Roazhon Park will bring a wounded OFI Crete side to Rennes, but the Greek Cup holders have already shown they can produce a European surprise.
The move
OFI travel to Brittany for a Europa League meeting with Stade Rennais on Thursday, with kick-off scheduled for 21:00. Their preparation suffered a setback at the weekend as they lost 3-0 away to AEK Athens in the Greek league.
AEK, unbeaten and second in Greece’s top division, took control before half-time. Filipe Relvas opened the scoring in the 41st minute after being supplied by Lovro Majer, the former Rennes midfielder. Harold Moukoudi and Mijat Gacinovic added goals late in the game.
- Lovro Majer — former Stade Rennais midfielder, who assisted AEK’s opening goal.
- Harold Moukoudi — scorer for AEK Athens against OFI Crete.
The defeat leaves OFI fourth in the Greek championship on 10 points. It was their second league loss of the campaign.
The French season around it
Rennes will host an opponent who has delivered mixed results in recent weeks. OFI were held 0-0 by Sturm Graz in Austria, a result that disappointed them, but they had begun the league phase with a notable 2-0 victory over Hoffenheim.
Both OFI and AEK are involved in the Europa League, and AEK’s win underlined the scale of the task awaiting the Cretan club in France. For Rennes, however, OFI’s result against Hoffenheim remains the warning: despite their domestic defeat in Athens, they have already proved capable of upsetting stronger opposition in Europe.
