Galletti brilliance spares Olympiacos blushes

By: Peter Katsiris | April 6th, 2009

A stunning free-kick from Luciano Galletti gave a seemingly experimental Olympiacos a 2-1 win over Levadeiakos on Sunday as the already confirmed Greek Champions continue to wind down the season with yet another slim win.

Patrick Dimbala got Levadeiakos off to a promising start in Levadeia, but a quick response from Matt Derbyshire set Olympiacos up for an inevitable comeback as Ernesto Valverde’s added another three points to their tally.

First Half

With Olympiacos seeing their early title triumph as a chance to hand the traditional “reserves” a chance to shine, it was Levadeiakos surging offensively as Brazilian playmaker Leonardo became the orchestrator of the Levadeiakos attack.

Although Leonardo was a crucial part of Levadeiakos offensive endeavours, his compatriot and namesake, Olympiacos’ Leonardo was charged with giving away a goal just past the quarter-hour mark.

The former Portuguesa defender committed a tragic mistake near the Olympiacos box, allowing Stefano Napoleoni to break towards the Olympiacos goal before firing a shot towards Pavel Kovac. Leonardo then aimed to make-up for his mistake by blocking Napoleoni’s from the goal-line, but an alert Patrick Dimbala was present to give Levadeiakos a surprising lead.

It took only eleven minutes for Olympiacos to respond through their improving English ace Matt Derbyshire. Oscar Gonzalez provided a cross into the box, which provided plenty of confusion for Levadeiakos’ back-line. Derbyshire was in attendance to poke the ball past Srdjan Blazic and level the score ahead of the half-hour mark.

Three minutes later Olympiacos continued to strive for yet another goal, but Serbastian Leto was unable to hit the target after Predrag Djordjevic, who announced his retirement earlier in the week, provided the Argentine with a slick through pass.

Second Half

With half-time scores across Greece leaving Levadeiakos in a worried state about their future in the Greek top flight, a 1-1 scoreboard didn’t hold promise for a side looking to stave off relegation battlers OFI Crete and Panserraikos.

With little urgency to either offense, both Levadeiakos and Olympiacos played out an opening fifteen minutes to the second frame. After both sides managed to unclog a congested midfield, it was Levadeiakos who looked to regain their lead through yet another fluky defensive performance.

Dimbala attempted to find a team-mate in front of goal with a chip into the heart of the Olympiacos box, but a deflection off Olympiacos’ Kyriakos Papadopoulos nearly found Kostas Kiassos. The Greek midfielder nearly pulled off a clinical touch but his timing lacked and a bouncing ball made its way past Kovac and scraped the post before Olympiacos’ Slovakian shot-stopper recovered.

Olympiacos’ rather quiet start to the second half was forgotten when Luciano Galletti marked his entrance with style. Introduced to replace Predrag Djordevic, Galletti proved again his value within the Olympiacos ranks as he thumped free-kick to give Olympiacos a lead with less than fifteen minutes left in the match.

Levadeiakos looked to respond soon after as Fernando Machado breached the Olympiacos defense but fired wide; nonetheless, an offside call on the Uruguayan undermined Levadeiakos’ last chance to bag an equalizer.

Levadeiakos FC 1-2 Olympiacos CFP
Dimbala – Derbyshire, Galletti

Yellow Cards:
Levadeiakos FC – Machado.
Olympiacos CFP – Galitsios.

Levadeiakos FC (Momcilo Vukotic): Blazic, Moulopoulos (85′ Lehtinen), Machado, Kapsis, Koltzos, Leonardo, Andralas (53′ Katsikogiannis), Kiassos (65′ Piechniak), Zisopoulos, Napoleoni, Dimbala.

Olympiacos CFP (Ernesto Valverde): Kovac, Leonardo, Galitsios, Oscar, Djordjevic (72′ Galletti), Antzas, Mendrinos, Leto (61′ Soleidis), Derbyshire (69′ Diogo), G. Papadopoulos, K. Papadopoulos.

Referee: Kostas Papastamatis (Athens)

Venue: Levadeia Stadium, Levadeia, Greece.