Serbian champions Partizan Belgrade were handed a tough draw in the third qualifying round as they take on Greek giants Olympiakos.

However, with three competitive fixtures under their belt already, the hosts will be hoping to spring a surprise against their more illustrious opponents.

Partizan Belgrade narrowly missed out on the Champions League group stage last term, losing to BATE in the play-offs, and they now face another difficult task.

The Serbian side did well to record a 2-0 aggregate win over Buducnost Podgorica in the second qualifying stage, but they will have bigger fish to fry in the next phase.

The only positive is that Partizan have already started raising their form having also hammered newly promoted Macva Sabac in the opening league fixture at the weekend.

The dressing room atmosphere is far from perfect as key player Leonardo is hoping to leave the club for greener pastures, but he should be in contention for the Olympiakos clash after apologising to his teammates for refusing to play at the weekend.

Chances are that will prove enough for the Brazilian to secure a place in the starting line-up, and he is likely to start alongside Uros Djurdjevic up front.

Probable starting line-up (4-4-2): Kljajic – Vulicevic, Ostojic, Cirkovic, N. G. Miletic – Djurickovic, Everton, Kosovic, Jankovic – Djurdjevic, Leonardo.

Olympiakos have been dominating Greek football for quite some time, but their performances in Europe have been hit and miss.

Thrylos won their seventh successive league trophy last term, and they have since been preparing for the new campaign.

Olympiakos did well to sign some notable players this summer, such as Emmanuel Emenike, Mehdi Carcela, Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe, Jagos Vukovic and Hrvoje Milic.

However, the team will need some time to gel, as witnessed by some under-par performances in pre-season friendly matches.

Head coach Besnik Hasi has some selection worries as Panagiotis Tachtsidis, Alberto Botia, Omar Elabdellaoui and Athanasios Androutsos are out injured.

On the other hand, new signing Hrvoje Milic as well as Andre Martins, Tarik Elyounoussi, Georgios Manthatis and Dimitrios Skafidas have not made the trip to Belgrade.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-3): Capino – Figueiras, Cisse, Vukovic, Koutris – Romao, Ofoe, Fortounis – Pardo, Emenike, Marin.