West Ham United’s Greek links

The Super League winning duo

He may not have enjoyed the best period of his career at West Ham United, but Roberto is held in high regard in Piraeus.

The Spanish goalkeeper initially moved to Olympiacos on loan from Atlético Madrid in July 2013 and beat out Hungarian Balázs Megyeri and former Hammer Roy Carroll to become the Greeks’ first-choice stopper later that year.

With Roberto in goal, Olympiacos won three straight Super League Greece titles, a Greek Cup in 2015 and reached the UEFA Champions League round of 16 once and group stage on two occasions.

The Spaniard started European wins over the likes of Manchester United, Benfica, Anderlecht, Atlético Madrid, Juventus, Arsenal and Dinamo Zagreb, made 117 appearances in total, conceded just 98 goals and kept 59 clean sheets.

On 67 of those 117 occasions, Roberto shared a pitch with another future Hammer, Arthur Masuaku.

The DR Congo international left wing-back joined Olympiacos from French club Valenciennes a year after Roberto, in July 2014, aged 20.

The attack-minded Masuaku played 74 times for Olympiacos in total and scored two goals across two successful seasons. He won Super League Greece titles in both seasons, and also started that 2015 Greek Cup final victory over Skoda Xanthi.

Among the duo’s teammates that day was Kostas Fortounis, who scored Olympiacos’s opening goal in their 2-1 win over West Ham in Piraeus a fortnight ago.