THE GRAFFITI ON the walls says a lot of things but “we’re magic” does not appear to be one of them outside the Georgios Karaiskakis stadium.
The home of Olympiacos, the reigning UEFA Conference League champions, is about 15 minutes south on the metro from the centre of Athens.
Barely any of the silver steel on the carriages are visible as a kind of burst of technicolour zips through the suburbs of the city.
In this corner of Piraeus, where the Republic of Ireland will face Greece in the Nations League tomorrow, Olympiacos are entrenched in the community.
AEK and Panathinaikos may also make up the city’s “Big Three” in the country’s Super League, but one of the first messages tagged on the walls as you walk to the ground lets you know that this is the “Athens Club.”
If any St Patrick’s Athletic supporters are part of the 900 or so Ireland fans heading here they will appreciate “The Saints” sprayed in red and white beside an image of skull and bones under the word “Misfits.”
And yet, snaking around the stadium are examples of how the stadium is not just a standalone 33,000 monument for football and owner Evangelos Marinakis’s ego – even if a large photo of him cradling and kissing the Conference League trophy hangs proudly.
Kids make their way to the swim academy and to taekwondo lessons, as well as to the astro pitches adjacent. This is an imposing home but one that is part of the fabric of the local community.
It’s their pride and joy, with one of the club’s ultra groups based at Gate 7. Just for effect, the entrance is wrapped in barbed wire with more graffiti for decoration. One silhouette holds a baseball bat and another carries a rifle with the grim reaper smiling back.
Yeah, so this is not the kind of welcome away fans get in Ballsbridge when they stroll past Roly’s or along the Grand Canal.
Inside the stadium the messages are more sanitised, the type dreamed up by those who have swallowed a beginner’s guide to PR.
DREAM. LOVE. CREATE. FIGHT. SURVIVE. WIN.
“Give over,” as some from Ireland might say.
Heimir Hallgrímsson spoke alongside midfielder Josh Cullen at the pre-match press conference had a message of his own when he spoke to the media before preparing for training earlier this morning.
“I really don’t care if we are easy to analyse if we are difficult to play against. I said that about Finland. Finland is a pretty easy team to analyse, they are consistent in what they are doing, they are just good at it and that is why they are difficult to play against and I want us to be, I would like us to be a team like that, that people hate to play against,” the manager said.
The time difference means it was around 9am at home when Hallgrímsson began pushing a blue wheelie bin full of mannequins, poles and cones from the Ireland dugout to just in front of the 18-yard box to set up some drills.
Assistant head coach John O’Shea and coach Paddy McCarthy also had their jobs to do to get things prepared at the other end of the pitch, and as the players emerged from the tunnel priority number one was to cover themselves in sun cream.
As you would expect after Thursday’s 2-1 win over Finland the mood was relaxed and good natured. Robbie Brady scored the winner in Helsinki and posed for some snaps in a pair of shades before skipping onto the pitch to join his teammates – some of whom found shelter in the shade.
The heat won’t be the same come kick-off at 9.45pm local time tomorrow but here will be no hiding place in front of a passionate crowd that will also pay an emotional tribute to the late George Baldock.
And there is a sensitive side to these local fans, a small memorial with the original ground’s turnstiles draped in scores of red and white scarves of those fans who have passed on. They have become somewhat tattered and faded as a result of being drenched in the sun, but it remains a poignant tribute.
There is another to Maradona and that famous snap of Muhammad Ali standing over a stricken Sonny Liston. “Piraeus Means Knock Out!” it declares.
If Ireland are still standing and unbeaten from this week of double headers, that will paint a pretty picture for Hallgrímsson when he returns to Dublin.
