The injury that will define the season
Ayoub El Kaabi broke his leg on Saturday. The striker fractured his left tibia and fibula in a collision with the Volos goalkeeper, was carried off on a stretcher in first-half stoppage time, and underwent successful surgery on Sunday (1) (2) (3). The club says up to seven months out (2). That is the season and then some.
Olympiacos drew 1–1 away to Volos in that match, but nobody will remember the scoreline. El Kaabi is the player this attack runs through. He finished last season as the league's leading scorer and started this one the same way. You do not replace that in September with a loan nobody wanted.
Mendilibar's problem is bigger than one striker
The coach said the dressing room was in shock, and you could see it on the pitch. Mendilibar admitted the team was absent in the second half, too affected by what happened to focus on football (4). The Volos result tells you everything: Olympiacos took the lead, then lost their shape, then dropped two points.
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That is the deeper concern. This is a squad built around El Kaabi's runs in behind. Jota Silva and Comba feed off his movement. Without him, the whole pressing structure changes, and the club sits 2nd with 7 points from three games. It is an open title race, and Olympiacos just gave everyone behind them a reason to believe.
Seven points after three matches is not a crisis on paper. But this league is won in the margins, and the margin just got a lot thinner.
What to watch
OFI Crete come to Piraeus on Saturday, September 12, the first match without El Kaabi in the side. Then Jagiellonia Bialystok on Wednesday in the Europa League opener, September 16. Two matches in five days will show whether Mendilibar has a Plan B or just a Plan with a missing piece.
Watch the starting striker. Watch who actually leads the line and who drops deep to help. El Kaabi's name is not coming off the team sheet, but someone has to carry his job for the next seven months. That answer starts on Saturday.
