Olympiacos claims Greek title with win in Nea Smyrni

By: Peter Katsiris | March 22nd, 2009

A 3-2 win over Panionios in Nea Smyrni, and a 1-1 draw for Panathinaikos in Tripoli, saw Olympiacos clinch their twelfth in thirteen years. It was a rough night in the Athenian suburbs, but the Greek Champions prevailed with a late goal from Dudu allowing the Piraeus giants to claim their fifth consecutive title.

Olympiacos thrashed Iraklis 5-0 last week, but on Wednesday they could only muster a 2-2 draw against a determined Asteras Tripolis in the Greek Cup. In hopes of replicating the same energy from a week ago, Ernesto Valverde’s men started the game on the attack as Oscar Gonzalez released the match’s first on-target shot on seven minutes. Creating room near the edge of the Panionios box, the Spaniard then fired a shot toward ‘keeper Tomas Belic but the Croatian was up to the task.

It was Panionios who then attempted to draw first blood through Uruguayan sensation Fabian Estoyanoff. The former Penarol midfielder made a sharp run into the box before eluding Didier Domi to warrant a shot from the surging Uruguayan; however, his effort slammed into the side netting.

Not too long after that, Olympiacos resumed its search for a goal as the visitors surged back into the offensive zone. Dudu initiated the play with a hard, grounded effort from the edge of the box, but it was quick thinking from Matt Derbyshire that made the chance count as the Englishman slotted his third Super League goal for the club.

Looking to extend the lead, Dudu released yet another effort but this time there was no rebound from Belic. Meanwhile, at the other end, Alvaro Recoba did little to test Antonis Nikopolidis as the former Inter Milan man fired his try softly into the arms of the Greek goalkeeper.

While Konstantinos Mitroglou looked to be a little off with his timing, teammate Derbyshire looked spot-on with his as the on-loan Blackburn Rovers striker narrowly secured a brace with his headed effort on forty-two minutes.

At the end, however, Christos Maniatis’ cross was accurately met by Lourenco da Silva as Panionios equalized bitterly before the interval. The Angolan rose above all to direct his header just inside the post and past a flat-footed Nikopolidis.

With the lead now gone, Olympiacos was forced to restart their hunt for the win but without Nikopolidis who was unable to continue the match. The former Greece international was replaced by backup Pavel Kovac, and it didn’t take long for Panionios to grab a lead of their own.

In fact, it took just over five minutes after the restart for the hosts to go ahead as Recoba’s driven effort was fumbled by Kovac and a potent Anderson Gonzaga pounced on the rebound to give the ‘Kyanerythri’ a surprise lead after fifty-one minutes.

It took ten minutes for Olympiacos respond, but not without a little help from one of Panionios’ own. Maniatis almost completely cancelled out his aforementioned contribution – a pinpoint cross to Lourenco – as the Greek defender turned in an own goal to level the score. An intended cross from Predrag Djordjevic ended up in Belic’s net after Maniatis’ attempted block backfired and ricocheted into the Panionios goal.

Continuing the trend, a further goal arrived for Olympiacos ten minutes later, but this time the play wasn’t dependent of a Panionios’ gaffe. Instead, it was a moment of South American creativity as Luciano Galletti’s free-kick cross was met by Dudu who stormed towards Belic’s frame before firing past the Croatian shot-stopper and scoring the go-ahead goal for the ‘Erythrolefki’.

There was little response from the now in-dismay hosts, and in fact it was Olympiacos who still pushed forward in search for a bit of insurance, but Derbyshire again was denied after an acrobatic save from Belic.

With no resistance coming from the Nea Smyrni outfit, the final whistle saw the Olympiacos bench erupt in celebration in the wake of their title-clinching triumph. Extending their lead to eleven points with three rounds of play left in the Super League, Olympiacos is well clear of rivals of Panathinaikos, whose title bid has now ended with mathematical impossibilities.

Panionios FC 2-3 Olympiacos CFP
Lourenco 45′, Anderson 51′ – Derbyshire 22′, Maniatis (o.g.) 61′, Dudu 72′

Yellow Cards:
Panionios FC – Lourenco 35′, Majstorovic 71′, Tzavellas 77′, Makos 89′.
Olympiacos CFP – Derbyshire 14′, Djordjevic 44′.

Panionios FC (Panagiotis Stamatopoulos): Belic, Maniatis, Latka, Recoba, Anderson, Makos, Estoyanoff, Kontoes (83′ Barkoglou), Nikolaou (56′ Majstorovic), Tzavellas, Lourenco (66′ Skoufalis).

Olympiacos CFP (Ernesto Valverde): Nikopolidis (46′ Kovac), Patsatzoglou (58′ Belluschi), Domi, Oscar (36′ Galletti), Djordjevic, Zewlakow, Dudu, A. Papadopoulos, Derbyshire, Mitroglou, Torosidis

Referee: Michalis Koukoulakis (Heraklion)

Attendance: 2 905

Venue: Panionios Stadium, Nea Smyrni, Greece