El-Arabi at the treble as Olympiacos rout 10-man Lamia
SUPER LEAGUE - MATCHDAY 18
Youssef El-Arabi scored a hat-trick as Super League leaders Olympiacos clinched an emphatic 4-0 away win over 10-man Lamia on Sunday to extend their advantage at the top to four points ahead of the derby clash between second-placed PAOK and AEK.
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The Moroccan was in irresistible form at the Lamia Municipal Stadium, netting either side of half-time and then again for a third time nine minutes from full-time after Mathieu Valbuena had earlier also got in on the scoring.
Lamia were overrun, especially after Vailis Pliatsikas’ 69th-minute sending off, and they failed to threaten Pedro Martins’ dominant Thrylos side, who look like they are determined to wrestle the title back from PAOK after two barren seasons without a trophy.
THE MATCH
Olympiacos headed into this match one point clear stop the Super League 1 standings and were looking for the victory to cement their first place. Martins’ men came away with a key derby victory last weekend against Panathinaikos, but that was a far from convincing performance, and Lamia were expected to be no pushovers.
After appearing dead and buried following the first eight matches, Akis Mantzios has overseen a remarkable recovery with his team having gone 5-3-1 in their last nine matches.
But from the first whistle in Lamia in this Matchday 18 encounter, there was really only one team in the match, and that was the visitors.
After a few half-chances in the opening 20 minutes, Olympiacos began to apply some serious pressure on the home goal. Valbuena combined brilliantly with Andreas Bouchalakis, but the Greek international midfielder’s shot flashed past home goalkeeper Kostas Theodoropoulos’ left post.
On 33 minutes the visitors again came very close to taking the lead, but Ousseynou Ba sent his powerful header onto the crossbar.
But the traveling away fans only had to wait seven minutes for their team to score, and El-Arabi was the man who did the damage. Valbuena was the architect, sending over a perfect cross for the Moroccan marksman to score with a header.
El-Arabi then doubled the advantage after 51 minutes with a clinical finish, while Valbuena then made it 3-0 with 20 minutes left from the penalty spot after Kostas Tsimikas won the spot-kick by drawing a foul from Pliatsikas, who was given his marching orders after receiving a second yellow card.
Lamia were rarely able to trouble the Olympiacos rearguard, and El-Arabi put the icing on the cake from close range, wrapping up a superb individual and team performance.
TEAM LINEUPS
Lamia: 30 Theodoropoulos (Gk), 27 Scarduelli, 24 Vyntra, 4 Adejo, 8 Pliatsikas, 18 Romanic, 21 Dimoutsos, 29 Bahanack, 10 Del Pino, 7 Vassilogiannis, 11 Karamanos
Olympiacos: 1 Sa (Gk), 21 Tsimikas, 3 Semedo, 4 Camara, 5 Bouhalakis, 6 Benzia, 19 Masouras, 24 Ba, 28 Valbuena, 76 Gaspar, 11 El Arabi
HIGHLIGHTS
