Hassan wins it for Olympiacos
Hassan wins it for Olympiacos
GREEK SUPERLEAGUE - MATCHDAY 9
Egypt forward Ahmed Hassan scored the only goal of the game as Olympiacos edged out Aris 1-0 in a tense North v South derby clash at the Kleanthis Vikelidis Stadium in Thessaloniki on Sunday evening.
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The 25-year-old striker, who is on-loan from Portuguese outfit Braga, converted from close-range after 67 minutes to settle an absorbing Matchday 9 showdown in which there was very little to choose between the two sides.
The result means Olympiacos continue to stay in touch with the early SuperLeague pacesetters PAOK and Atromitos at the top of the table, moving up to third place just four points adrift of leaders PAOK.
Paco Herrera’s Aris team remain in seventh with 12 points from nine matches played.
THE MATCH
Looking to get stay on the winning track after last week’s late dramatic win over struggling Apollon Smyrnis, Pedro Martin’s players began brightly and with a sense of urgency that has been missing from their play at the start of matches lately.
It took just five minutes for the Erythrolefki to create a scoring chance, but midfielder Kostas Fortounis missed the target when it seemed a goal was certain. The visitors continued to look the more threatening up to around the half-hour mark when the home side began to assert themselves more.
And Aris squandered arguably the best chance of the opening half in the 37th minute when French forward Nicolas Diguiny rose to meet a left-wing free-kick brilliantly only to be denied by Jose Sa’s instinctive save.
After half-time Aris were the team enjoying the lion’s share of possession and chances as they stretched Olympiacos on numerous occasions but without managing to find that crucial, final killer touch in front of goal.
And after a spell of Aris pressure when the home side really should have made their possession count, Olympiacos went up the other end and scored the vital goal seven minutes after the hour mark from a neat passing move orchestrated by substitute Bibras Natcho.
The Israeli midfielder, who had only been on the pitch for eight minutes replacing Lazaros Christodoulopoulos, sent Leonardo Koutris scampering down the left with a superb long ball.
Koutris then crossed perfectly for the arriving Hassan to slot home with consummate ease to stun the the home fans and spark jubilant celebrations on the Olympiacos bench.
And despite some late pressure from Aris, that’s the way the scoreline stayed as the visitors claimed a crucial three-point haul at one of the league’s toughest places to get a result.
STARTING LINEUPS
Aris: 23 Cuesta, 31 Menendez, 3 Sousa, 27 Tzanakakis, 32 Siopis, 11 Mateo Garcia, 17 Bruno Gama, 7 Diguiny, 21 Younes
Olympiacos: 93 Sa(GK), 14 Elabdellaoui, 66 Cisse, 26 Vukovic, 23 Koutris, 5 Bouchalakis, 12 Guilherme, 11 Lazaros, 7 Fortounis, 56 Podence, 18 Hassan
by Graham Wood
Image Source: gazzetta.gr
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