Christos Mouzakitis, debut at 17 in a European game

Christos Mouzakitis, debut at 17 in a European game, the future belongs to him...

Manos Staramopoulos • 7 de octubre de 2024

17-year-old Christos Mouzakitis succeeded and made his childhood dream come true. Is a new talent of greece football.

17-year-old Christos Mouzakitis succeeded and made his childhood dream come true. To compete in the first team of Olympiakos. Now he even competed for the first time in a UEFA competition with Olympiakos and in the final of the "red and whites" 3-0 over Braga he heard his name being chanted from the stands.

The evening of October 3, 2024 will undoubtedly be etched forever in the memory of young Christos Mouzakitis, as at the age of 17 years, 9 months and 8 days (he was born on 25/12/2006) he made his first appearance in European Cups.

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The young midfielder who won last year's Youth League with Olympiakos started in the 3-0 win over Braga for the 2nd matchday of the League Phase of the UEFA Europa League, after the Basque, Jose Luis Mendilibar trusts in him and proved it in practice.

The little guy fought from start to finish. Only he didn't have a track and he did great. Everyone counts him (and rightfully so) among the leaders of the match against the Portuguese team, since despite his young age he took several initiatives and executions of statics (including 3 corners).

That's how he "stole" with "good morning" the... heart of the platform and it is no coincidence that around the 89th minute of the match the whole "G. Karaiskakis" began to rhythmically call out his name, thus recognizing his effort.

The finale of the match found him with 35/40 correct transfers (s.b. 87.5% success rate), 5 ball recoveries, 1 tackle and the whole future looking auspicious in front of him. Thus, for the second game in a row, Christos Mouzakitis was the starter.

Mouzakitis had a lot of action above midfield. He moved mainly on the left side, with his average area of action being slightly above the center.

He was extremely active, finishing the match with 51 actions with the ball. He was extremely accurate, with 34 out of 39 passes (87% accuracy). In fact, in the first half he had just one failed pass. In addition, it also created an opportunity.

Offensively, he had one successful tackle, one clearance, and was also among the leaders in steals, with three.

Mouzakitis' performances:

• Actions: 51

• Passes: 34/39 (87%)

• Key Pass: 1

• Centers: 1/3

• Long transfers: 3/3

• Removal: 1

• Steals: 3

• Tackle: 1

• From the age of 9...

The fact is, however, that Mouzakitis played in the first team of the club where he has been training systematically since he was 9 years old. It was Christmas 2015 when he passed through the main entrance to the Rentis facilities for the first time, together with his one year older brother, Vassilis who also competed for Olympiakos up to the U17 age group.

Christos had started playing football as a goalkeeper, but an eye injury was to change everything, creating something like a butterfly effect for him and Olympiakos! His parents, Dionysis and Varvara, did not even discuss the possibility of him continuing in this position.

"If you want to play football, forget the goal" his father told him, because he knew that there was no way that Christos would put his hands (and... his head) on fire to catch the ball.

So, at the age of 7, he was forced to change positions! His very good left foot immediately made the difference (even if his shot was not as powerful as Vassilis!). In 2014, he was spotted in Heraklion, Attica by Stelios Orphanidis, for many years a coach in the small divisions of AEK, so he went to Union, always with his brother.

A year later he switched to Olympiakos, which was the team he supported. He gradually developed in the "red and white" academies and was considered a project mainly thanks to his very high football IQ. Mouzakitis belongs to the age group of 2006 that received perhaps the strongest of all the consequences of the pandemic. He did not have the opportunity to compete at the Super League K15 level, as the 2020/21 season championship was postponed and during that time he was training alone at the Kymi Avenue stadium in Neo Heraklion.

The resumption of all competitive activities in the Fall of 2021 coincided with the launch of Christos Mouzakitis, who in less than three years competed in four different Olympiakos groups (K17, K19, B team, first team), became an international with three national teams and won 4 titles with the top of all of course the Youth League of 2024.