Olympiacos continued its success a few days after qualifying against Fenerbahce, after prevailing with a score of 2-1 over PAOK in “G. Karaiskakis” and keeps alive his hopes of winning the title. The “red and white” were better than the Thessalonians for the longest duration of the match and took the lead with Kini (27′) and Zelson (61′), while PAOK reduced with Antonio in (90’+3′). The team from Thessaloniki did not manage to create major problems for the hosts, although in the final they gave everything to save the point.
Another Olympiacos, few changes for Lucescu
Mendiliber, a few days after qualifying for the semi-finals of the Conference League, chose to make eight changes to their starting line-up for the match against Fenerbahce. The entire defense was changed with Kinney, Recho, Abby and Richards playing from the start. Ibora was key up front with Horta next to him and Ciquinho up front, while Pontense and Gelson played on the wings and Navarro up top. For his part, Lucescu did not make many changes in relation to the match against Bruges. Sastre, Kenziora, Koulierakis and Baba played in defense with Ozdoev playing a position next to Meite, Zivkovic, Tyson and Murg played behind Thomas.
Olympiacos entered the game with tremendous intensity and with the aim of pressuring PAOK in the first pass. The Mendiliber football players made life very difficult for those of Lucescu, since they did not let them move the ball. At the same time, the Piraeus team looked for passes at the back of the defense and Navarro did this job exceptionally well. Koulierakis missed him on two occasions, but the Spanish striker had started from an offside position.
Dominant football and goals
In the 25th minute, however, Navarro escaped again and Koulierakis overthrew him for Nogueira to show the white bullet. Podense saw Kotarski save the penalty, but Keaney, who had an excellent game, took the rebound and slotted the ball into the net for 1-0. Olympiacos may not have had big phases, but it had taken the game where it wanted with Navarro playing a great game and PAOK seeing Baba and Tyson unable to create problems. Somehow the two teams went to the locker room with the score at 1-0 for Olympiakos.
He pretended to clean it, but…
Olympiacos did not change its tactics in the second half. The Piraeus team entered the field with the same energy. The football players of Jose Luis Mendiliber suffocated the Thessaloniki team and did not let them take a breath and build a game. In the 60th minute, Lucescu brought on Despodov and Samata to make him more dangerous, but before they could warm up it was 2-0 for Olympiakos. In an exemplary attack, Podense crossed the crossbar for Zelson and the one who came across Kotarski correctly placed for 2-0.
Afterwards, Olympiacos was the team that had absolute control of the match, with PAOK not having created any problems for Tzolakis. It is typical that PAOK’s first threat was in the 77th minute with Baba making a dangerous turn from the left, but Tzolakis had a hard time clearing. In the third minute of stoppage time, PAOK reduced to 2-1 with Antonio and the last few minutes took on a dramatic character, but Olympiacos was not particularly in danger of an equaliser, which finally got the big victory.
Miniature
Olympiacos-PAOK 2-1
Field: “C. Karaiskakis”
Referee: Nogueira (Portugal)
Scorer: 27′ Kinney, 61′ Martins, 90’+3′ Antonio
Yellow: 25′, Koulierakis, 35′ Abi, 63′ A. Zivkovic, 64′ Z. Zivkovic, 90′ Baba
Compositions
OLYMPIC: Tzolakis – Kini (0’+4′ Vezo), Retsos, Abi, Richards – Ibora, Ciquinho (78′ Ese), Horta (85′ Carvalho) – Podense, Martins (78′ Masouras), Navarro (85′ El Kaabi)
PAOK: Kotarski – Sastre (79′ Otto), Kenziora, Koulierakis, Baba – Meite (74′ Schwab), Ozdoev – Zivkovic, Murg (60′ Despodov), Tyson (79′ Antonio) – Thomas (60′ Samata).
