Olympiacos played one of its best games in this year’s championship against OFI, with the Piraeus dominating the pitch from the first minute of the match and winning 4-0, for the 22nd matchday of the Super League.
The game even took place under the watchful eye of the new coach of Olympiakos, Jose Luis Mendiliber, who watched the match closely and drew many useful conclusions for his new team.
In fact, the Basque coach immediately gets to work and will start preparing his team from tomorrow (11/2) for the next European game against Ferencvaros for the playoffs of the Europa Conference League (15/2). Against the Hungarians, he will also make his debut on the “red and white” bench.
As for the game against OFI, the score could have been even higher, as the Red and Whites had many opportunities to score even more goals. The hosts took a 2-0 lead in the quarter, with goals from Masoura (6′) and El Kaabi (10′), while in the 34th minute they made it 3-0 with Podense and in the 58th minute 4-0 with Fortunis .
In the game against the Cretans, Jovane Cabral also made his debut with the red and white shirt, coming on as a substitute in the second half.
This is how the two teams lined up
Sotiris Sylaidopoulos lined up Olympiakos with Paschalakis in front of goal and Rodinei, Biancone, Carmo and Ortega in the back four. Ese, Tsiquinho and Fortounis were in the midfield trio for the big port team, with Masoura, Pontense and El Kaabi in the attack. Pep Mel, on the other hand, started OFI with: Bauman, Marinaki, Vouros, Giannoulis, Abada, Glazer, Gagegos, Bakits, Baku, Apostolaki and Iseka.
Two goals in the first quarter
Olympiacos came into the game strongly and threatened as early as the 5th minute through Daniel Pontense, but the Portuguese midfielder’s shot went wide. A minute later, the Red and Whites opened the scoring with Giorgos Masouras. Bowman came out of the box and tried to clear, but the ball hit the Olympiacos midfielder and then lay in front of him, with the international ace scoring from close range to make it 1-0. In the 10th minute, the hosts made it 2-0, against El Kaabi. After some fights, the ball reached the Moroccan striker and he sent it from close range with a turn into Bowman’s net, giving Sylaidopoulos’ team a two-goal lead.
Goal by Pontense, crossbar by Carmo
At 12′ Fortounis tried his foot, but the ball went out. The shot made by the international midfielder in the 26th minute, after Masoura’s header-pass, had the same outcome. In the 30th minute, Fortounis had another shot, but the ball was countered and went out for a corner. A minute later, Olympiacos scored a third goal with Daniel Pontense. The Portuguese superstar impressively cleared Giannoulis and executed Bowman from close range for Piraeus’ 3-0. In the 38th minute, Giorgos Masouras threatened with a strong deflected shot from the height of the large area, but the OFI goalkeeper saved for a corner. After the corner, Carmo shot powerfully from inside the area, but the ball was stopped by Bowman’s crossbar.
Olympiacos continued to press and in the 43rd minute missed another chance, this time with Tsiquinios. The Reds and Whites worked together brilliantly and Cicinho shot from the top of the box but the ball went narrowly wide of Bowman’s post as the first half ended with the scoreboard reading 3-0.
Changes by both coaches
Before the start of the second half the two coaches made their first changes of the game, with Sylaidopoulos putting Alexandropoulos in for Pontense and Mell with Mosquera and Thorarinson instead of Gagegos and Giannoulis.
Olympiacos continued to have possession of the ball and create problems for the visitors’ defense. In 56′ Ayoub El Kaabi shot from the height of the small area, after the turn made from the left, but the ball went wide. A minute later the Red and Whites scored another goal, this time with Kostas Fortounis.
After Tsikinio’s nice pass, the captain of Piraeus found himself in front of the OFI goalkeeper and with an impressive lob he sent the ball into the net of the Cretan team for 4-0 Olympiakos.
Debut for Jovane Cabral
After the goal of Kostas Fortounis, Sylaidopoulos made two changes, with Jovetic and Jovane Cabral taking the places of El Kaabi and Fortounis. First appearance with the red and whites for the attacking midfielder from Cape Verde. In the 64th minute, Sotiris Alexandropoulos tried his foot from a distance, but the ball went high out.
In the 73′, Olympiacos threatened again, this time with Cabral. After Vourou’s mistake, Alexandropoulos stole in and turned from the left, but the Cape Verdean international midfielder missed from a good position and missed the chance to make it 5-0. OFI responded to Jovane Cabral’s chance in the 78th minute with Bakic. The Montenegrin took the free kick that the Cretans had won outside the box, but the ball hit the right post of Paschalakis and went wide.
In the remaining minutes, the tempo of the game dropped significantly, with Olympiacos controlling the match and reaching the victory with 4-0.
OLYMPIAKOS (Sotiris Sylaidopoulos): Paschalakis, Rodinei, Biancon, Carmo, Ortega, Ese (Ibora), Tsiquinho, Fortunis (61′ Cabral), Pontense (46′ Alexandropoulos), Masouras (76′ Navarro), El Kaabi (61′ Jovetic).
OFI (Pepe Mel): Bauman, Marinakis, Vouros, Giannoulis (46′ Torarinson), Abada, Gayegos (46′ Mosquera), Glazer, Bakics, Iseka (62′ Jimenez), Baku (81′ Riera), Apostolakis (62′ Felipe).
Latest news