Olympiacos top dog in Greece after Panserraikos win

By: Peter Katsiris | September 22nd, 2008

A return home saw the Greek Champions give their performance of the season to date, as Olympiacos scored four times to rout Panserraikos 4-1. A variety of goal scorers reached the score sheet for Olympiacos, and they were equally as good but unfortunate to have conceded after a questionable penalty call on Vassilis Torosidis.

Pressured to return to form — only after several poor outings in recent weeks — Olympiacos silenced its critics early and often on Sunday. The home side looked definite to score on just three minutes when usual goal scorer, Darko Kovacevic, turned provider to find Luciano Galletti but the fan favorite in Piraeus flashed his header wide. Ieroklis Stoltidis further tested the Panserraikos defense three minutes later; a shot whizzed towards the Panserraikos goal.

Olympiacos made their intentions clearly early on, as plenty of hustle from the entire squad further proved the side was keen on scoring an early goal. Holding their own, Panserraikos kept an offensive Olympiacos off the scoreboard.

The visitors didn’t limit themselves to only defensive duties, and they enjoyed their first meaningful spell in Olympiacos’ end with Bozidar Tadic’s effort forcing a corner for the visitors. Turning defense into counterattack, the ‘Eruthroleuki’ midfield slowly moved the ball back into Panserraikos territory and surely enough the Piraeus club found a breakthrough. After winning a corner of their own, Sebastian Leto’s curling cross was first met by Stoltidis, followed by Avraam Papadopoulos, but the ball crossed the goal when a third effort — this time from Darko Kovacevic — found the back of the net. The tall Serb beat several defenders to the ball, and with superb control the ball found the goal in a hurry.

It was 2-0 only moments later, thanks to a creative link-up between Torosidis and Galletti confused the nervy Panserraikos defense. Weaving through the back-line, Galletti easily disposed of his marker and placed the ball past a sprawling goalkeeper Dimitrios Kottaras.

Several strokes of bad luck in the coming quarter-of-an-hour kept a very one-sided match close, and by the crowd’s standards, too close. First, Stoltidis sent a header just wide, only after a pinpoint free-kick from Galletti. Kovacevic came even closer when his chipped effort ricochets off the bar. Looking to put the game out of reach just ahead of the half, Diogo nearly tripled Olympiacos advantage but his shot was easily controlled by Kottaras.

Counting their blessings, Panserraikos looked to take advantage of Oympiacos’ bad finishing with Patrick Zoundi attacking for ‘the Lions’. The opportunity was well wasted as the former Asteras Tripolis player sent his shot well above the crossbar.

The visitors attacked once again after the restart, but the result of their chances were the same. Two consecutive efforts from Georgios Gougoulias kept the home crowd on edge, but supporters of ‘O Thrylos’ were relieved when goalkeeper Antonis Nikopolidis preserved his clean sheet.

The game turned into a congested match from that point as few chances occupied the approaching thirty minutes. However, with only ten minutes before time, Olympiacos struck again with a looping header from Diogo beating Kottaras. A perfect cross from Torosidis found an uncovered Diogo, and the finish was magical as his header sent the ball curling into the right corner.

Panserraikos found salvation only four minutes later, as a cross was blocked, all be it accidentally, by a retreating Torosidis. Attempting to avoid being hit by the hall, the Greece international was not quick enough to escape from the ball’s path and referee Stavros Tritsonis issued pointed to the spot. Tadic was the man selected to take the spot kick, and the Serbian made no mistake, as he beat a diving Nikopolidis by powering the shot down the center of goal.

The game was nearly a closer encounter with Zoundi testing Nikopolidis with a blistering shot, but the retired Greece international forced the shot out for corner. Surely enough, Olympiacos restored its three-goal advantage only moments later thank to second half substitutes Oscar Gonzalez and Fernando Belluschi. The two creatively dissected the Panserraikos defense, before Oscar was let in alone to finish off the play by rolling the ball in off the post. Oscar had another chance to extend Olympiacos’ lead only seconds later, as the summer signing received a well worked pass from Sebastian Leto, only to see his finish limited to a corner kick.

A dominant performance gave Olympiacos its third win of the Super League season — and fourth consecutive victory in all competitions. Combined with Ergotelis’ draw with Levadiakos, the ‘Kokkini’ reclaimed first place in Greece.

Next weekend’s encounter with OFI in Crete will be Olympiacos’ next all to action, before returning home to host FC Nordsjaelland.

Olympiacos 4-1 Panserraikos
Kovacevic 23′, Galletti 27′, Diogo 81′, Oscar 89′ – Tadic 85′ (pen.)

Yellow Cards:
Olympiacos — none.
Panserraikos — Kallimanis 14′, Digkozis 68′, Adado 74′.

Olympiacos (Ernesto Valverde): Nikopolidis, Torosidis, Domi, Avraam Papadopoulos, Antzas, Dudu, Stoltidis, Galletti (83′ Oscar), Leto, Diogo (90′ Mitroglou), Kovacevic (73′ Belluschi).

Panserraikos (Giannis Papakostas): Kottaras, Kallimanis, Pipinis (66′ Adado), Collin, Milenkovic, Digkozis, Abubakari, Baykara (45′ Jerez), Tadic, Gougoulias (55′ Bangoura), Zoundi.

Referee: Stavros Tritsonis

Venue: Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium, Piraeus, Athens, Greece