Darko delivers in win over Getafe

By: Peter Katsiris | July 31st, 2008

It was the theme in Piraeus throughout last year, and Darko Kovacevic made sure it continued tonight as the Serbian scored the lone goal in a 1-0 Olympiacos win over Spanish side Getafe. After coming off bad results in their previous summer friendlies, Olympiacos made their season debut in front of their fans at the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus.

A cagey start from both sides saw Olympiacos emerge as the dominant side, as the Greek Champions had more of the possession and were able to control the tempo. Few chances were found in the first half, but there were enough to keep the home fans cheering. Several rushes and careless defending from Getafe allowed Olympiacos to get several cracks at goal, but they were either well wasted or blocked desperately by the Getafe back line. A late first half surge from Luciano Galletti resulted in an Olympiacos corner, and a cross from the Argentine found the head of Kovacevic who placed it past Roberto Abbondanzieri.

After capturing the lead late in the half, Olympiacos had the momentum heading into the second half. They showed their confidence in the first ten minutes after the restart, but a header from Avraam Papadopoulos and several well constructed plays were unable to get past the Getafe defense. The pattern continued throughout the remainder of the match as the second half panned out to be an experimental 45 minutes.

Olympiacos (Ernesto Valverde): Nikopolidis, Torosidis (46′ Galitsios), Zewlakow (81′ Antzas), A. Papadopoulos, Domi (68′ Raul Bravo), Stoltidis (77′ G. Papadopoulos), Patsatzoglou, Galletti (81′ Mendrinos), Djordjevic, Oscar, Kovacevic (68′ Mitroglou).

*** Olympiacos’ next friendly is set for Saturday (August 2nd), against recently relegated Greek club Atromitos FC in Peristeri. No broadcasting arrangements have been made for that game.

For all the Olympiacos friendlies, click here