Larissa lands rare victory at Karaiskaki

By: Peter Katsiris | April 17th, 2009

Larissa collected three crucial points to continue to hold the advantage in the ever-tight race for the final playoff spot, as Maciej Zurawski scored just before the hour mark in a 1-0 win over Olympiacos. The Greek Champions, who had secured their twelfth title in thirteen years a few weeks ago, saw their perfect record at the hostile Giorgos Karaiskakis Stadium come to a shocking end; while Larissa’s hopes of qualifying for the playoffs were boosted immensely.

Holding just a two-point lead over Aris for the fifth and final playoff spot in the Super League, Larissa put on a valiant performance to assure they remained in control of their European destiny.

Ernesto Valverde continued to experiment with his Olympiacos outfit, as the Spaniard selected youngster Giorgos Niklitsioitis to the starting eleven, as well as Kyriakos Papadopoulos. With his first-ever Greek title already booked, it was clear Olympiacos was in search of a stress-free route to the Super League finish line.

The lack of regulars in the home side’s starting mould appeared to be an issue through the first ten minutes as neither side managed to explore offensively. When the brief lull was put to an end, it was Olympiacos who emerged as the contingent in control. The youthful Niklitsiotis fired a shot from just outside the Larissa box, but Stefanos Kotsolis was left untested.

Not too long later a former member of Olympiacos, Stelios Giannakopoulos, looked to leave his mark on his first return to Karaiskaki since leaving Piraeus for the Premier League’s Bolton Wanderers six years ago.

The former Greece international capitalised on an error by Giorgos Galitsios to stroll free alone against Pavel Kovac, but the Slovakian ‘keeper in goal for Olympiacos was saved when Giannakopoulos fired wide.

As the introductory half neared the interval, Olympiacos began to dictate the tempo while holding Larissa in their own end. Again it was Niklitsiotis looking to solve Kotsolis, but again the ball travelled wide of the Larissa goal.

Execution seemed to be lacking as halftime eased its way in Piraeus.Neither side was able to provide a convincing performance in offense, and a lack of accuracy in front of goal kept the score-line unchanged.

Olympiacos looked to change that soon after the restart as Michal Zewlakow connected with a free-kick from Predrag Djordjevic. The Polish defender narrowly made the most of the set-piece, but his header was blocked a sharp Kotsolis.

Less than five minutes later, Larissa took their charge deep into the Olympiacos box as another Polish international led Larissa’s attack. Maciej Zurawski stepped inside the Olympiacos box and with a few inventive moves freed up space to warrant an effort on goal. The Polish sniper found the mark with a slick shot into the far bottom corner past Kovac.

Larissa continued the trend of offensive pressure just before the hour mark as Giorgos Fotakis rattled the post on fifty-nine minutes. Two former members of Olympiacos, in Stelios Venetidis and Giannakopoulos combined with a parallel pass falling for the latter before the former Hull City midfielder found Fotakis teeing up a shot – its direction, however, couldn’t weave around the home side’s goal frame.

With their eyes on the scoreboard in Piraeus, and in Athens, Larissa began to congest the match with a resilient defensive effort; thus resulting in a slow end to the match.

Olympiacos, however, managed one more effort through Giannis Papadopoulos. The youthful Greek midfielder gave the crowd a glimpse of his skill with a hard shot towards Kotsolis’ goal but it sailed fractions over the crossbar.

The final whistle confirmed Larissa remained frontrunners to lock up the final playoff spot, all the while Marinos Ouzounidis’ men sealed their first away win over Olympiacos in twenty-six years.

Olympiacos CFP 0-1 Larissa FC
Zurawski 54′

Yellow Cards:
Olympiacos CFP – none.
Larissa FC – Fotakis 80′, Kotsolis 86′, Inglesias 88′, Para 90′.

Olympiacos CFP (Ernesto Valverde): Kovac, Leonardo, Galitsios (59′ Pantos), Djordjevic, Zewlakow, Mendrinos (59′ Diogo), Dudu, Derbyshire, Nilitsiotis (52′ Galletti), G. Papadopoulos, K. Papadopoulos.

Larissa FC (Marinos Ouzounidis): Kotsolia, Venetidis, Giannakopoulos (67′ Para), Sarmiento, Fotakis (85′ Ilic), Aarab, Metin (90+ Katsiaros), Inglesias, Ferrari, Weber, Zurawski.

Referee: Ilias Spathas (Piraeus)

Venue: Giorgos Karaiskakis Stadium, Piraeus, Greece.