Party Crashers: Saint-Etienne win snaps Olympiacos’ streak, threatens UEFA Cup progress

By: Peter Katsiris | February 20th, 2009

Alright, I know Chris already wrapped up Wednesday’s horrific result, but this post here is all about me salvaging my little postgame tradition. I’ll be honest, I was pissed, and still am; however, I’ve cooled down since Wednesday afternoon. Like Chris said, it’s going to be a hell of a ride next week, and it starts this Sunday against Ergotelis, before the replay next week. Call me stubborn, and you may have a point, because I am not giving up. I’ll list some reasons later, but for now join me in my sulking… (Notice picture features one Olympiacos player, and three Saint-Etienne players? I wish it were the other way around)

It was a shocking result in the port city of Piraeus on Wednesday night, as Saint-Etienne produced an unexpected 3-1 win over Olympiacos at the Giorgos Karaiskakis Stadium. While clashes in and out of one of Greece’s most historic football stadiums marred the build-up, it wasn’t until the match started that Olympiacos fans were drawn within misery. A handful of mistakes became the Achilles heel for the Greek Champions, despite raiding the French goal with several decent looks during their own possession.

Ahead of the game, it was unthinkable that Olympiacos would ever be stopped at home. Saturday’s win over Aris FC put the cap on a sixteen game home win streak spanning all competitions. Unbeaten at home in European competition since a slim 1-0 loss to Italian giants AS Roma back in October of 2006, Karaiskaki had become a safe haven for the ‘Erythrolefki’ in Greece and in Europe.

With faithful followers forming stunning visuals in the crowd, include large banners reading “Fight for Red and White”, it was all up to Ernesto Valverde’s men to deliver a pre-mature blow against their French guests.

The home side looked to be on track for a rampant start when Vasilis Torosidis erupted into celebration as he mistakenly thought he scored the match’s opening goal. The Greece international was slapped with disappointment by the linesman who had raised his flag to signal the former Skoda Xanthi defender was in an offside position.

Dodging an early bullet, Alain Perrin’s ‘les Verts’ targeted a goal of their own; however it wasn’t their determination that put them ahead on the scoreboard. Instead, Didier Domi spent too much time on the ball, and after the French defender failed to clear the ball to safety, he had his pocket picked, and a wide-open Ilan was the first to pounce on the loose ball. The Brazilian sharply turned his attention to a stranded Antonis Nikopolidis, before placing his effort around the former Greece international.

A tragic early marker sparked joy for the French, while the Greeks were still caught up in disappointment. More misery nearly followed as Geoffrey Dernis attempted to add further damage to the score-line, but the French midfielder was denied by the upright.

Dernis’ dash came just minutes after Belgian Kevin Mirallas forced Nikopolidis into a save, after collecting the ball off a Predrag Djordjevic.

It became clear, rather briskly, that Olympiacos had to tighten up in the back. Thanks to several flaws in defense, Saint-Etienne began to grab the lion’s share of possession; forcing the hosts to waste energy just to retrieve the ball.

As mistakes continued to filter their way through the game, a long series allowed for the match to play without many scoring opportunities.

Olympiacos came close to levelling the score on thirty-eight minutes, but Djordjevic’s thunderous header went just wide of Jeremie Janot’s goal, after Luciano Galletti had set up the Serbian with a pinpoint aerial pass.

Three minutes later Olympiacos returned to the forefront of the Saint-Etienne box, and with a brilliant pass from Fernando Belluschi to compatriot Galletti, the Greeks could have levelled the match if the latter imposed more accuracy on the effort.

Breathing a sigh of relief, the visitors regrouped and returned to their offensive duties by extending their lead to 2-0. A combinative sloppy display by Paraskevas Antzas and Domi allowed Ilan to thread a pass to Dernis at the top of the box. Taking the pass in before the Frenchman curled a strike past an exposed Nikopolidis.

Screaming silence now took over the Giorgos Karaiskakis Stadium, as a rather odd feel had blanketed itself on jam-packed venue. With heavy-favourites Olympiacos behind by two after forty-five minutes, the second frame was their last chance to sweeten the score line before a replay in about a week.

The first effort of the second half came through Galletti. The Argentine started the second half in high gear, and flashed an effort towards Janot but the ‘keeper parried to keep his clean sheet.

It was then Dudu’s turn to challenge the French ‘keeper, but Janot made a sharp save to deny the Brazilian. Not to be outdone, Saint-Etienne broke free from the Olympiacos hold moments later, but Moustapha Bayal could only send his effort over Nikopolidis’ goal.

Similarly, Antzas wasted a rare headed effort just past the hour mark, but continued pressure by the Super League leaders began to unravel the Saint-Etienne defense.

It was about a minute later when Christos Patsatzoglou was controversially brought down near the edge of the box, but the referee awarded the trailing side a penalty. Clutch scorer Djordjevic exercised his masterful penalty taking, beating Janot to cut the deficit to just one with less than thirty minutes left in Piraeus.

Attempting to bog down the game, Saint-Etienne resisted any Greek raids until Dudu narrowly missed out on depositing Belluschi’s free-kick with a wide bound header.

The sacred equalizer continued to elude Olympiacos, and by the stroke of fulltime, Bafetimbi Gomis capped the encounter with his side’s third goal. Firing from well outside the box, Gomis’ effort was aided by a fortunate bounce off compatriot Domi, which handcuffed a fooled Nikopolidis.

With the arrival of fulltime, there was also the introduction of responsibility for Olympiacos. Great pressure is on the Piraeus giants to progress, but it will take a goliath effort in France to see them through at this point.

Olympiacos CFP 1-3 AS Saint-Etienne
Djordjevic (pen.) 64′ – Ilan 12′, Dernis 43′, Gomis 90 + 1′

Yellow Cards:
Olympiacos – A. Papadopoulos 23′, Diogo 78′, Dudu 84′.
Saint Etienne – Tavlaridis 6′, Dernis 29′, Varrault 62′, Dabo 74′.

Olympiacos CFP (Ernesto Valverde): Nikopolidis, Torosidis, Domi, A. Papadopoulos (46′ Zewlakow), Antzas, Dudu, Galletti (65′ Derbyshire), Patsatzoglou, Diogo, Belluschi, Djordjevic (77′ Oscar).

AS Saint-Etienne (Alain Perrin): Janot, Varrault, Tavlaridis (75′ Benalouane), Payet, Mirallas, Dernis (54′ Hautcouer), Matuidi, Dabo, Machado, Bayal, Ilan (46′ Gomis).

Referee: Cardozo Cortez Batista (Portugal)

Venue: Giorgos Karaiskakis Stadium, Piraeus, Greece.