Roman Yaremchuk Over Armando González: Alguacil Omits Forward for Olympiacos' Europa League Clash

Imanol Alguacil named his official starting eleven for the UEFA Europa League Matchday 3 fixture against Sparta Praha. The match is set to kick off at 10:00 PM EEST on 21 October 2026 at the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus, Greece. 

This was the fifth straight match in which the Basque manager left new signing Armando 'Hormiga' Gonzalez out of the starting line-up. The Mexican striker emerged as Olympiacos' goalscoring opener in European competition this season with his goal against Jagiellonia Bialystok. However, that fixture remains the last time the former Chivas man started. 

Roman Yaremchuk was selected yet again for the Sparta Praha match as Gonzalez was dropped to the bench. He is expected to get minutes later in the game, as the 23-year-old is the only natural striker in the substitute ranks since Marius is off the European list. 

Alguacil has made six changes from the team that was fielded against Panetolikos in their last match. He has left out the likes of Nair Tiknizyan, Marcus Holmgren Pedersen, Gustavo Puerta, Joel Roca, Gustavo Sa and Kostas Fortounis out of the starting line-up to give way to other players. 

Olympiacos are set to play in their usual 4-2-3-1 formation. This time, Alguacl has shuffled the left-back and right-back positions with Bruno Onyemaechi and Manolis Saliakas respectively. Remo Freuler keeps his spot as one of the two holding midfielders as Santiago Hezze returns after a stellar performance against Marseille. 

Gelson Martins, Chiquinho and Jota Silva take the attacking midfield spots while Yaremchuk retains his role as the sole striker upfront. 

While Gonzalez's omission from the starting eleven was initially thought of as a fatigue issue following his return to Greece from the international break, right now, it seems to be more of a technical problem with his presence from the beginning of the game. Fans eager to watch Hormiga might view this situation as an unfair one, as the case for Yaremchuk to consecutively be named as the undisputed starter is weak. 

No altercations or fitness issues were reported on the part of Gonzalez as he has been training professionally since his arrival without complaints. Tonight's match could be key for the manager to decide on his striker, and Gonzalez's chances of starting the next match will skyrocket should the Ukrainian disappoints. Nonetheless, fans can expect him to feature in the second half of the game as this has been the case in recent times.