Miserable night for Olympiacos in Cyprus

By: Peter Katsiris | August 13th, 2008

Olympiacos faces a major setback in their bid to reach the UEFA Champions League group stage, after falling 3-0 to Cypriot club Anorthosis Famagusta. In match that was expected to be a close encounter, saw the home side take full advantage of their opportunities and obtain a historic result.

The first half was an utter disaster for Olympiacos as the Greek Champions fell behind quickly by conceding twice in the first nineteen minutes. The first goal was a result of a miscommunication between goalkeeper Antonis Nikopolidis and Vassilis Torosidis. The two players collided in an effort to block the cross, but the ball rolled into the Olympiacos net off the stretched foot of Torosidis. About a quarter-of-an-hour later it was 2-0; all thanks to a flat-footed defense allowing the Cypriot club to waltz into the attacking third. Taking full advantage of the opportunity, a cross from the right wing was met by the head of Polish striker Łukasz Sosin and flew into the bottom corner of the Olympiacos net. From then on Olympiacos took a strangle hold of the game but the play was poor. Several crosses whizzed across the Anorthosis box but the Albanian keeper in goal for the Cypriot side leaped out to intercept several of the long passes. The Cypriot club took a shocking 2-0 lead into the changing rooms.

The nightmare continued for Olympiacos as Nikopolidis was replaced by Pavel Kovac in goal. It appears the collision between Torosidis and Nikopolidis has tainted the former Greek international’s fitness. The gears began to move in motion in the second half for Olympiacos, but the end result (a goal) was out of reach. The Piraeus club began to create several chances including a crafted effort from Ieroklis Stoltidis; sadly the ball was deflected wide and rolled out for nothing but a corner. It looked like Olympiacos were going to get the breakthrough they were so desperate for, when Luciano Galletti was brought down in the box. Greek youngster Kostas Mitroglou stepped up to take the penalty, but his weak effort hit the post. Struggling to grab an away goal, Olympiacos continued to attack and their non-existent defense conceded again. A shot from Vincent Laban beat a maze of bodies in the box and found the back of the net. When the final whistle came, a sigh of relief must have come across Olympiacos players and staff, as the nightmare trip to Cyprus was over.

Olympiacos now faces an uphill battle in two weeks time, as the focus of the tie shifts to Greece where Olympiacos will need a win of a 4 goal margin to have any shot of returning to the group stage.

Anorthosis Famagusta 3-0 Olympiacos
Torosidis (o.g.) 5’, Sosin 19’, Laban 87’

Yellow cards:
Anorthosis – Beqaj 78’
Olympiacos – Stoltidis 30’, A. Papadopoulos 54’

Olympiacos (Ernesto Valverde): Nikopolidis (47’ Kovac), Leonardo, Patsatzoglou, Torosidis, A. Papadopoulos, Zewlakow, Stoltidis, Oscar (57’ Mitroglou), Galletti, Djordjevic (74’ Leto), Kovacevic.

Anorthosis Famagusta (Timur Ketsbaia): Beqaj, Ocokoljic, Dellas, Katsavakis, Leiwakabessy (65’ Samaras), Bardon (64’ A. Constantinou), Skopelitis, Dobrasinovic, Laban, Nikolaou (47’ Paulo Costa), Sosin.

Referee: Olegário Benquerença (Portugal)