Olympiacos’ offense bombards Benfica for Five

By: Peter Katsiris | November 27th, 2008

Olympiacos reignited its UEFA campaign with a stunning five-goal performance against SL Benfica on Thursday night, as the Greek side scored steamed past Benfica with a 5-1 win at the Giorgos Karaiskakis Stadium. A goal as early as the first minute set the Greek Champions on cruise control since the opening sixty seconds, and the hosts ran wild on their Portuguese guests.

The bleeding began instantly for Benfica, as Olympiacos’ second surge towards their opponents’ goal allowed the hosts to profit. Luciano Galletti looked to be provider with his centering pass targeted towards Diogo, but the Brazilian striker was unable to latch onto the ball as he crashed into Benfica keeper Quim. From there, Galletti made no mistake with his finish as his odd-angled effort sliced the between a beaten Quim and the near post, before gracing the left-sided mesh of the goal.

Stunned by Olympiacos quick start, Benfica had to regroup quickly to avoid the wrath of the Greek titleholders. The travelling supporters look to have their voice back just eight minutes after Olympiacos’ opening goal, but Jose Antonio Reyes’ free-kick goal – which went in unscathed past Antonis Nikopolidis – was disallowed as Nuno Gomes appeared to have committed a foul on Olympiacos defender Christos Patsatzoglou.

Benfica came up flat in their next few endeavours into Olympiacos’ half, with a dominant defensive line blockading each Benfica burst of creativity.

The devastating blow, however, didn’t come in Olympiacos end, rather in Benfica’s on seventeen minutes. A defensive blunder allowed Fernando Belluschi to receive a slick pass from Diogo, before the Argentine eluded an interfering Maxi Pereira and fed a wide open Christos Patsatzoglou. The Greece international made no mistake with his volleyed effort, as he slotted his effort in the top right corner.

Misery was compounded for the visitors just seven minutes later, as Olympiacos extended its lead to 3-0. With a magical first touch, Diogo worked his way around defender Sidnei before rolling an easy finish past a stranded Quim.

It was an unexpected opening third to the match, as pre-match predictions highlighted this match to be a close encounter. Benfica attempted to live up to their pregame hype, Benfica continued to create opportunities. The Greeks looked unfazed by their opponents, with Jose Antonio Reyes’ accurate cross wasted by an inaccurate header from David Suazo.

Reality settled in just moments later with Benfica finally solving the Olympiacos defense. Hassan Yebda forced Antonis Nikopolidis to concede a corner, and on the ensuing set piece Benfica opened their scoring account with David Luiz thrashing home a Reyes corner.

Suazo then missed another chance to inch Benfica even closer, as the Honduran was rejected by Nikopolidis. All Benfica progress was purged just before the half, however, as Belluschi turned from provider to goal scorer with a forty-fourth minute strike.

After initiating Olympiacos’ second goal of the night, Diogo repeated the feat yet again to find Galletti on the far flank. Belluschi raced into the Benfica box, and was on hand at just the right time to tap in Galletti’s crease-cutting pass.

Likewise on many occasions, Benfica’s backline was left flat footed by the clever Olympiacos offense as the first half bombardment of goals concluded with Olympiacos holding a comfortable 4-1 lead after the first forty-five minutes.

Many called upon Olympiacos to reproduce their weekend performance which resulted in the Greek Champions triumphing 3-0 away to Iraklis. It seemed, however, the side occupying last place in its UEFA Cup group was not going to settle with a reproduction of their Saturday spectacle.

Benfica supporters were left scratching their heads, as Quique Sanchez Flores’ side were simply outclassed by their hosts. With half the game left to turn around a 4-1 score line, it seemed the Greeks were destined to do more than clip the wings of ‘As Águias’.

The second half started with Benfica enjoying a rare trek into Olympiacos’ territory, but Reyes was denied a goal by a sharp Nikopolidis.

The lightning struck again for the hosts, as Diogo combined with traditional counterparts, Galletti and Belluschi, before the Brazilian added his second goal of the match.

Returning the favour from before, Belluschi initiated the crisp play with a switching ball aimed towards Galletti. The latter then found Diogo with a perfect through ball; but the finish fell into a class of its own, as the former Portuguesa showed why the likes of Chelsea were searching for his signature, with a clean cut finish to the far corner.

From that point Olympiacos had several more opportunities to inflate the score line, but with the dynamic trio now on the bench it was clear Olympiacos had stamped their authority on UEFA Cup group B.

After falling flat in Turkey, Olympiacos was more than ready for their match-day three encounter with the Liga side. Three points after two matches wouldn’t be the desired standing for Valverde’s men, but the ‘Eruthroleuki’ had gotten its UEFA Cup campaign back on track.

The same can’t be said for their opponents, who had now fallen to the foot of the Group B standings. After three matches in the group stages, the Portuguese powerhouses have collected just one point. Now, they face the prospect of an early exit from the last edition of the UEFA Cup, with fortunes likely to continue to elude them.

Olympiacos CFP 5-1 SL Benfica
Galletti 1′, Patsatzoglou 18′, Diogo 24′, 53′, Belluschi 44′ – David Luiz 33′

Yellow Cards:
Olympiacos CFP – Pantos 79′.
SL Benfica – Binya 43′.

Olympiacos CFP (Ernesto Valverde): Nikopolidis, Pantos, Antzas, Papadopoulos, Domi, Patsatzoglou, Dudu, Galletti (59′ Leto), Djordjevic, Belluschi (70′ Oscar), Diogo (69′ Kovacevic).

SL Benfica (Quique Sanchez Flores): Quim, Maxi Pereira, Sidnei, David Luiz, Jorge Ribeiro, Ruben Amorim (59′ Javier Balboa), Yebda (76′ Carlos Martins), Binya, Reyes, Suazo, Nuno Gomes (56′ Urettavizcaya).

Referee: Stephane Lannoy (France)
Assistant Referees: Frederic Cano (France), Christoph Capelli (France)
Fourth Official: Antony Gautier (France)

Venue: Giorgos Karaiskakis Stadium, Piraeus, Greece.