From Russia with love for Olympiacos
 

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE - PLAY OFFS (LEG 2)

Olympiacos beat FC Krasnodar 2-1 in the second leg of their Champions League play-off tie on Tuesday to complete a comprehensive 6-1 aggregate victory over the Russians and book a place in the lucrative group stage.

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Daniil Utkin opened the scoring after a bright start from the home side at the state-of-the-art Krasnodar Stadium, but Olympiacos’ instant leveller a minute from the impressive Youseff El Arabi later took the wind out of their opponents sails and made it plain sailing for Pedro Martins’ Greek Super League runners-up.

The result sees Olympiacos return to Europe’s footballing promised land after a one-season absence as they had missed out last term, marking another memorable European night for the Thrylos.

Olympiacos now go into this Thursday’s group stage draw, while their beaten opponents enter Europa League group stage draw.

THE MATCH

Having done the hard work last week at an atmospheric Karaiskakis Stadium, stunning Krasnodar with a four-goal blitz to practically put the tie to bed, this match was billed as nothing more than a formality for the Super League runners-up.

But it did not seem that it would play out like that in the early exchanges, as an energetic start from the home side saw them register the first shot on target after just 63 seconds when Wanderson’s shot was saved by Olympiacos goalkeeper José Sá.

That proved an early warning shot, and the home side soon struck the opener after 10 minutes, with the 19-year-old Utkin on target as the home fans received a huge lift and began dreaming of an unlikely comeback.

That lead and dream was short-lived, however, as Olympiacos responded immediately, levelling the scores just a minute later through El Arabi, the late replacement brought in to replace injured Miguel Angel Guerrero. The 32-year-old Moroccan added his first European goal to his first goal in the Greek League scored on Saturday.

The scoreline remained unchanged going into the dressing rooms at half-time, but Olympiacos began the second half in the same attacking vein that Krasnodar had started the first. And the Greek club were soon rewarded with another goal as they went in front for the first time in the match three minutes in the second period.

And it was that man El Arabi again. A corner from the right caused confusion on the right hand side of the Krasnodar penalty area, and Matieu Valbuena fired in a thunderous low cross that El Arabi met perfectly at the far post to score his second.

That looked game set and match to Olympiacos from then on, with the Piraeus giants now 6-1 ahead on aggregate.

And indeed, the second goal scored by the visitors put Krasnodar on the ropes and the Russians looked increasingly lethargic as the match wore on, since they needed a minor miracle to get back in the tie at that point.

As anticipated, no such miracle was forthcoming, and Olympiacos will now deservedly take their place in the group stage draw.

STARTING LINEUPS

KRA: 1 Kritsyuk (GK), 3 Fjóluson, 5 Spajić ©, 10 Wanderson, 14 Olsson, 33 Berg, 47 Utkin, 52 Vilhena, 89 Stotski, 93 Suleymanov, 98 S. Petrov

OLY: 1 José Sá (GK), 3 Ruben Semedo, 5 Bouchalakis, 8 Guilherme, 10 Daniel Podence, 11 El Arabi, 14 Elabdellaoui ©, 19 Masouras, 20 Meriah, 21 Tsimikas, 28 Valbuena

HIGHLIGHTS

by Graham Wood

Image Source: sport-fm.gr

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