Fortounis suspended for Jagiellonia; Sá out, Chiquinho and Pirola remain questions | OneFootball

Kostas Fortounis will miss the match through suspension, carried over from his red card in the Champions League qualifying return leg against NEC. He joins the injured Ayoub El Kaabi and Gustavo Sá among the confirmed absentees.

There are also continuing concerns over Chiquinho and Lorenzo Pirola. Pirola has recently been recovering from a first-degree muscular strain, while Chiquinho picked up an issue around the OFI match. Their availability for Wednesday remains under evaluation rather than confirmed.

One important piece of the attacking plan is already settled: Roman Yaremchuk has officially replaced El Kaabi on Olympiacos’ Europa League list, giving Imanol Alguacil a senior No. 9 option against Jagiellonia.

The Fortounis absence is particularly significant because Olympiacos are already short of creative options.

Sá’s injury removes another player capable of receiving between the lines. If Chiquinho is also restricted or unavailable, Alguacil could enter his first European match in charge without three of the players most naturally suited to creating in central attacking areas.

That places greater emphasis on the wide players and midfielders to generate progression, while Yaremchuk’s re-entry into the European squad now becomes more than administrative housekeeping. He may immediately have an important role.

The challenge for Olympiacos is that Jagiellonia are likely to give them periods where they dominate possession. Without Fortounis and Sá, simply having the ball will not guarantee the penetration that was missing during stretches of the OFI defeat.