Olympiacos U19 and the corresponding Milan team are claiming the trophy for the first time in their history Youth League (19:00, Newsit.gr, COSMOTE SPORT 3 HD).
Olympiacos and Milan will try to complete this year’s European journey by winning it Youth League. The two teams are competing in the final of their competition UEFA and they will try to lift the trophy for the first time in their history.
First “obstacle” of Olympiakos to Final Four of the Youth League was the champion of Italy, Lecce whom they defeated with a 6-2 aggregate score (3-1 and 1-3) and advanced to the next phase.
There, Kabbalah was waiting for him. The first game was played in Azerbaijan with the “red and white” winning 3-0! The second match was equally emphatic for the Piraeus, as they won 4-0 at the “Karaiskakis” stadium.
A little over 24 hours later, the lottery drew the name of Inter on the road of Olympiakos. The people of Piraeus supported the effort of Olympiakos in this knockout match, with the stands of “Karaiskakis” welcoming a large crowd.
Olympiacos, despite the fact that it was left with one less player during the match, as Papakanellos was sent off in the 72nd minute, got a great qualification in the penalty shootout for the “16” of the institution.
In the next phase, the coach of Olympiakos, Sotiris Sylaidopoulos, had to prepare his players for the French champion, Lance. A team that had qualified for the “16” of the competition, as a pioneer of the UEFA Youth League groups.
“Karaiskakis” opened again onhis materials for the club’s K19 and the people of Olympiakos were there again to support her. The “red and whites”, despite the fact that they found themselves behind in the score with 0-2 in the 51st minute of the match, managed to draw 2-2 and send the game to the penalty shootout, for the second match in a row after that against Inter .
There, Olympiacos again appeared cooler and to the point, taking the historic qualification for the quarter-finals of the European competition, where no other Greek team had managed to reach until that moment.
The… saga of Munich
In the “8” of the Youth League, Olympiacos “fell” against Bayern Munich and this time the knockout match was away from home. Bayern, a team with several million euro budget at the academy level and a lot of talent, was definitely a difficult opponent.
Olympiacos succeeded again! In the 32nd minute, Pneumonidis and X. Kostoulas suffocated the opposing goalkeeper and he made a mistake as he sent the ball to Mouzakitis, who opened the scoring for 0-1 with a spot kick. The final 1-3 sent the Piraeus to… Nyon for the Final Four of Youth League.
He also beat Nantes on penalties and went to the final
The red and white… miracle continued in Switzerland as well. Olympiacos reached the final of the competition, winning 3-1 on penalties against Nantes in the semi-final of Nyon.
The normal duration of the match ended 0-0 and then the “red and white” got another qualification from the “white bullet” as it had done in the previous phases of the competition, against Inter and Lance.
Thus, they became the first team since Panathinaikos in 1971 to qualify for the final of a UEFA club competition. The great protagonist was the goalkeeper, Angelos Sina, with his interventions during the match, but also the saving intervention in the penalty shootout.
Milan’s path to the final
Milan managed to qualify from their group, counting 4 wins and 2 losses, being in the group with Newcastle, Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain.
And then in the knockout games he proved to be a particularly tough nut to crack, knocking out three teams on penalties.
Braga was the first victim, after 2-2 in the 90th minute, the “rosoneri” prevailed 4-2 on penalties and went to the quarter-finals. There, Abate’s side drew 1-1 with rivals Real Madrid, but this time they prevailed on penalties 4-3.
In the semi-final against Porto, Milan opened the scoring, saw the Portuguese pull off the upset but found a goal in stoppage time and sent the match to penalties. The Portuguese “bent” with 4-3 in the “Russian roulette” and thus the “rosoneri” went to the final.
Olympiacos – Milan, therefore, for the top at UEFA Youth League (19:00, Newsit.gr, COSMOTE SPORT 3 HD).
