Five-star Olympiacos demolish 10-man Asteras
 

SUPER LEAGUE - MATCHDAY 14

Olympiacos produced a stunning away performance at Asteras Tripolis on Sunday to dismantle the struggling Arcadians in ruthless fashion with a 5-0 victory at the Theodoros Kolokotronis stadium.

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Giorgos Masouras and Youssef El Arabi both bagged a brace each, while Daniel Podence was also on target as Pedro Martins’ men ran riot in Tripoli to claim another three points in emphatic style in a match which saw the home side reduced to 10 men.

Triantafyllos Pasalidis received a straight red for a reckless tackle on Olympiacos’ Brazilian midfielder Guilherme after just 16 minutes, paving the way for what was an easy night for the visitors.

The win kept the Piraeus giants on top of the table where they are level on 34 points with title rivals PAOK after 14 matches, but ahead on goal difference thanks to their strong defensive record. The Thrylos have scored just as many goals as PAOK - 28 - but they have conceded only five to PAOK’s 12.

For Asteras and their new coach Milan Rastavac, the mini winter break can not come too soon as the struggling club lie third from bottom with just 12 points.

THE MATCH

Rastavac was right to be wary of an Olympiacos side who came into this match with plenty of positive momentum after their midweek European exploits. The Erythrolefki defeated Red Star Belgrade 1-0 at the Karaiskakis Stadium on Wednesday, thereby clinching a spot in the Europa League’s Round of 32.

And from now until February, Martins’ men can focus exclusively on their title challenge for the first time this season. Olympiacos have a history of finding life difficult in Tripoli, but not this time.

Coming up against an Asteras team bereft of confidence following a run of five matches without a win, the visitors asserted their dominance almost right from the kick-off as they went 2-0 up inside the first nine minutes.

Masouras opened the scoring after five minutes, converting a right-wing cross from Hilal Soudani, and then Podence doubled the advantage just four minutes later when he scored after good work from Mady Camara and El Arabi.

On 16 minutes came the crucial moment, which made Olympiacos’ shift all the more simple. Asteras defender Triantafyllos quite rightly was sent off for an awful challenge on Guilherme, who had to be replaced by Andreas Bouchalakis.

Asteras’ job was made near impossible with a numerical disadvantage, and understandably Olympiacos dominated proceedings even more from that point onwards. Having said that, there was still one chance for Asteras that could have changed things on 30 minutes, but Jeronimo Barrales’ shot was saved well by Jose Sa in the Olympiacos goal.

El Arabi got on the scoresheet next for Olympiacos after 35 minutes following another assist from Soudani, and a minute before half-time, the Moroccan forward headed home a cross from Lazar Randelovic to make it 4-0.

The visitors missed a hatful of chances before Masouras finally made it 5-0 on 73 minutes. Once again, that man Soudani was in the thick of the action, laying on his third assist of the match for Masouras to score and round off a stellar performance all round for the visitors.

STARTING LINEUPS

Asteras: 1 Papadopoulos (Gk), 27 Kotsiras, 3 Tasoulis, 4 Pasalidis, 5 Capilla, 15 Suarez, 7 Fernandez, 12 Munafo, 17 Iglesias, 10 Fernandez, 30 Barrales

Olympiacos: 1 Sa (Gk), 2 Soudani, 3 Semedo, 4 Camara, 8 Guilherme, 10 Podence, 11 El-arabi, 14 Elabdellaoui, 19 Masouras, 21 Tsimikas, 34 Papadopoulos

HIGHLIGHTS

by Graham Wood

Image Source: to10.gr

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