Dress rehearsal ends with a late sting
Eighty minutes of reasonable shape, one lapse, and it all goes into the loss column. Olympiacos fell 0–1 to Ajax on Saturday, undone by an Oliver Edvardsen header with ten minutes left (3) (8). Pre-season friendlies are never about the scoreboard, but this one matters, Mendilibar picked what looked close to his strongest eleven, with Yaremchuk up front and Diego Carrizo at right-back (4) (9). The performance was not bad. The problem is that it was not much of anything. Olympiacos pressed in bursts, held structure, and created almost nothing that worried Ajax's goalkeeper. Two shots on target tells the story.
Edvardsen's winner came late, but the match was drifting toward a goalless draw that would have felt like a small victory. Ajax, preparing for a Conference League qualifier, were sharper and quicker in the key moments (6) (9). That gap in match readiness is understandable in mid-July. What stings is the nature of the goal, a cross, a free header, a collective switch-off. Mendilibar's Olympiacos are built to be harder to break down than that.
Popovic shines, but the right-back question lingers
The Greek press singled out Popovic as the pick of the newcomers, naming him the MVP among the fresh arrivals after his performance against Ajax (5). That is a genuine positive. A new signing who looks comfortable straight away in a high-tempo friendly against an Eredivisie side is worth noting.
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Elsewhere, the returns were thinner. Right-back Álvaro Llamazaga drew mixed reviews, and the defensive uncertainty at that position, already flagged earlier in pre-season, did not disappear on Saturday (5). When a friendly exposes the same structural question the squad brought into it, the alarm is mild but real. Olympiacos are still working to finalize the Joel Roca deal from Girona, which would add firepower, but the backline is where the preseason questions are clustering.
The Ortega smoke signals
While the friendly played out, reports emerged linking Olympiacos with free-agent goalkeeper Stefan Ortega (2). He is available after leaving Manchester City, and Nottingham Forest are reportedly in the conversation too. The link is not random. Konstantis Tzolakis has attracted international interest this window, and the Ortega connection reads like a contingency plan that is already in motion.
If Tzolakis stays, fine. If he goes, Mendilibar will want a proven replacement walking through the door the same week, not a late-August scramble. Ortega fits the profile: experienced in a top league, available now, no transfer fee.
What to watch
The Joel Roca deal from Girona is reportedly close, at around six million euros. That signing would change the look of the attack before the next friendly. The right-back situation needs a decision too, whether that means backing Llamazaga to grow into the role or finding another option. And the Tzolakis-Ortega thread is not going away quietly.
