- Evangelos Marinakis is the owner of both Nottingham Forest and Olympiacos
- Greece host England on Thursday evening in their Nations League showdown
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Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis is helping Greece in their bid to beat England by letting them use his Olympiacos training ground.
The national team do not have a recognised centre like St George’s Park and, ahead of Thursday’s Nations League showdown here in Athens, Marinakis has stepped in to offer his club’s facilities.
‘Thank you to Olympiacos president Mr Marinakis for allowing the national team to use their training centre in its entirety,’ said Greece boss Ivan Jovanovic.
His team beat England 2-1 at Wembley last month and a draw would see Greece top the Nations League group and win promotion to Pool A.
But Jovanovic says 60,000 fans at a sold-out Olympic Stadium are not turning up to watch their country play for a draw.
Evangelos Marinakis has handed Greece a boost in the build-up to their clash against England
Lee Carsley is set to stand down as interim boss at the end of the weekend’s round of fixtures
Greece beat England at Wembley last month and there is a feeling this Three Lions side is even weaker
‘It doesn’t come into my mind and it shouldn’t, because we have 60,000 fans who are not coming to see us play out a draw,’ he said. ‘The fans have a thirst for the national team, to be able to fill the stadium in six hours from when the tickets went on sale.
‘They want a performance, they want the effort from the team. The starting goal can never be a draw. The players and staff aren’t aiming for that.
‘Yes, the opponent being as good as England may force a different style of play, but just like in London, the team had a perfect performance abroad, it’s what is required to be able to get the perfect result this time.’
Greece outplayed England at Wembley and, given the spate of pullouts this week and the fact interim boss Lee Carsley will stand down this weekend, there is a feeling the Three Lions are even weaker one month on.
‘I definitely don’t think that,’ said Jovanovic. ‘England is a great team. Sure, some players will be missing. However, England still has a great pool of players to replace the ones that are missing and arguably even get something out of the new players brought in.
‘We had to have a perfect match to get a result in England and we will need another perfect match to get a result here.’
