Sixth consecutive victory in Europe for Piraeus, who were excellent in their defensive duties and optimistic in the rematch in Karaiskaki (March 15) to seal the qualification to the "8" of the tournament!
A blow with the absence of Melmberg who filled out cards, while for the Ukrainians Crystaldo and Edmar will be missing (he was sent off).
The match
The biggest headache for Olympiakos was the plan it had to find and implement in order to control the outbursts of a team with charismatic players in the attack such as Metalist. It really was not an easy task at all. This was made clear early on by Markevic's players, who were a permanent source of danger.
With Latin temperament and tremendous physical skills, they often put the "red and white" defense in a difficult position, which had a lot of work, but easily or with difficulty interrupted the efforts of the opponents and passed -even stressfully- the test successfully. His weak center made him vulnerable in the back and harmless in the front with the Miralas, Jembour not being able to threaten.
However, they had a phase even though it was not from their own player. In a moment of confusion in the Ukrainian defense, Sosa almost did the damage… after the head that tried to go back passed a few outs. The goal for Olympiakos, to keep zero, was achieved.
And from there on to risk with… measure for the "double". Somewhere there, the man of difficult missions in Europe took action. Who else but the warm David Foster! Having hypnotized the opponents with his well-known… lazy style, at the right time, he took advantage of the opportunity presented to him and laid the foundations for another qualification for Olympiacos in Europe.
The compositions
Metalist (Miron Markevich): Gorianov, Viagra, Torsiglieri, Edmar, Xavier Clayton, Sosa, Fininio (63 'Pshenicnik), Cristaldo (83' Marlos), Blanco (63 'Devic), Gueje,
On the bench: Dislienkovic, Berezovsky, Torres, Obradovic.
Olympic (Ernesto Valverde): Megeri, Abraham Papadopoulos, Melmberg, Torosidis, Markano, Orbait, Maniatis Makoun (76 'Modesto), Foster (80' Cholebas), Miralas (90 'Abdoun), Jembour.
On the bench: Babovic, Papazoglou, Ibagasa, Richards.
Referee: Istvan Vad (Hungary)
Assistants: Eros, Ring
Additional: Fabian, Bognar
4th: Sambo
Source: KATHIMERINI