Olympiacos dodges Diagoras bullet

By: Peter Katsiris | October 29th, 2008

Olympiacos booked its place in the next round of the Greek Cup with a 3-2 win over Diagoras in Rhodes. A match that featured five goals and plenty of drama - not to mention a power outage - saw the defending Greek Cup Champions narrowly defeat a stubborn Second Division club.

Perhaps Diagoras was not emotionally ready for this match, as a few hours before kickoff it was reported by Rhodes police that 25 year-old Yiannis Koskiniatis had commited suicide by jumping off a cliff. Nonetheless, Diagoras put on a valiant effort in memory of their teammate as the small club from Rhodes nearly knocked out the Greek Champions.

Olympiacos started the match positively as the heavily favoured visitors took control of the game early on. They stamped their authority on fourteen minutes, as a header from Oscar Gonzalez snuck past a leaping Michalis Vellidis.

Expecting to be deflated by the early Olympiacos tally, Diagoras looked to challenge the early Olympiacos lead. Nearly fifteen minutes past before another decent try came for either side, and surprisingly it was Diagoras who had the opportunity. Tasos Triantafyllou, who scored in this same fixture last year - equalized on Diagors first meaningful attempt on the thirty minute mark. Receiving a pass from Amado Feutchine, Triantafyllou finished the play superbly as he brushed past an un-alert Olympiacos defense before placing a finish past a stranded Antonis Nikopolidis.

Triantafyllou pushed his side forward just after the hour mark, with a strong header into the Olympiacos goal. The Diagoras advantage was quickly diminished by Diogo who equalized one minute later by volleying home a pass from Sebastian Leto.

Shortly after Olympiacos had pegged back, the lights at the ground shut off due to a failure. At this time, Diagoras players were informed about their colleague, whose life had ended prematurely. With the power outage causing delay for nearly thirty minutes, everybody on had was relieved when power was restored.

Paying with heavy hearts from that point on, Diagoras gave a valiant effort in the closing fifteen minutes. Olympiacos grabbed the lead six minutes before time, as Darko Kovacevic headed home a Sebastian Leto set piece. Proving to be the finally tally on the night, Olympiacos emerged victorious but not without causing the loyal supporters of ‘O Thrylos’ some grief.

Diagoras 2-3 Olympiacos
Triantafyllou 30, 67′ - Oscar 14′, Diogo 69′, Kovacevic 84′

Yellow Cards:
Diagoras - Triantafyllou 70′.
Olympiacos - Diogo 65′, Mendrinos 81′.

Diagoras: Vellidis, Tzanis, Dimou, Miloskovic, Xristou (76′ Danas), Triantafyllou, Feutchine (46′ Spartalis), Rusef, Korakakis, Tsiatsios, Poulopoulos.

Olympiacos (Ernesto Valverde): Nikopolidis, Torosidis, Domi, Zewlakow, A. Papadopoulos, Mendrinos, Dudu, Oscar (73′ Sisic), Djordjevic (56′ Leto), Mitroglou (55′ Diogo), Kovacevic.

Venue: Diagoras Stadium, Rhodes, Greece.