City have a good record in the two final warm-up games played at the City of Manchester Stadium since the club moved to Eastlands, beating Barcelona in 2003 and Lazio last year.
Olympiacos have an impeccable pedigree, having been champions of Greece on 33 occasions and cup winners 21 times, doing the double last season. Their progress in the Champions League last year was only ended by Stephen Gerrard’s late winner at Anfield, but they are regular competitors on the European stage.
Alongside Brazilian superstar Rivaldo they can also boast a slew of internationals, including four members of the Greek national side that took the European Championship in 2004. Among the six signings they recently made is Kolo Toure’s brother, Yaya.
After this weekend’s double-header away to Stoke and Sheffield Wednesday, Pearce will be looking to the Olympiacos fixture to fine tune his final preparations ahead of the start of the league season.
“They will give us a stern test, there’s no doubt about that,” he asserts. “They are a decent side and they have played a lot of European football.
“If you look back at the Barcelona and Lazio games, they have been good games for us. It’s the week before the season, and we are going to have to start nailing down what we want from the players. It’s the last curtain call before the season starts and I think it will be a good test for us.”
The boss is also looking forward to giving the players the chance to perform in front of their own fans at last, having travelled to the Far East for the Asia Trophy games, as well as much closer to home for the friendlies at Macclesfield and Tranmere.
“We’re back in our own stadium in front of our own fans, and it should be a good one for us. If we get a decent crowd to come along and watch then hopefully we can carry on from what we achieved at the end of last season.”
Tickets for the Olympiacos game are available to all supporters now, and are priced at £12 for adults and £5 for concessions.
The Ticket Store at Eastlands will be open from 9am to 12pm on Saturday, but bookings can be taken over the phone until 10pm on 0870 062 1894. The Ticket Store will reopen on Monday morning at 9am, and will remain open until 7pm every night next week.
