Late goal rush helps Olympiacos thrash Panionios
GREEK SUPERLEAGUE - MATCHDAY 19
| Olympiacos | 4 - 0 | Panionios |
|---|---|---|
| Hassan 69' Guerrero 75' Lazaros (P) 79' Vukovic 86' |
A four-goal blitz late in the second half powered Olympiacos to a 4-0 home victory over Panionios at the Georgios Karaiskakis stadium on Saturday night as the Thrylos kept the pressure on SuperLeague leaders PAOK.
After an even first half, the home side stepped on the gas and strikes from Ahmed Hassan, Miguel Angel Guerrero, Lazaros Christodoulopoulos and Jagos Vukovic sealed another impressive win for Pedro Martins’ side.
The result helps second-placed Olympiacos move to within five points of their title rivals PAOK before the Salonica club’s big derby clash with AEK at the Olympic Stadium in Athens on Sunday.
THE MATCH
Olympiacos made a strong start to the match with Lazaros missing two great chances within the first nine minutes.
The Greek international forward was first denied by Panionios goalkeeper Matic Kotnik after five minutes when his close range effort following a great cross from Daniel Podence was parried to safety.
Kotnik came to the rescue again four minutes later when Lazaros surged in to the box after collecting a pass from Ahmed Hassan, saving the lively forward’s shot comfortably.
It was then Panionios’ turn to threaten and they Panthers passed up arguably the best chance of the match just a minute later when Oumar Camara was sent clean through on goal. With only Olympiacos goalkeeper Jose Sa to beat, however, the Frenchman’s effort was saved.
Olympiacos controlled much of the play leading up to half-time, but the visitors stuck to their game plan and weathered the storm up to half-time.
The home side began the second half in the same vein as they had the first - full of attacking intent. Big central defender Jagos Vukovic released Leonardo Koutris down the left and his cross gave Lazaros another chance to score, but the Greek forward missed the target from a great position.
It mattered little though as the hosts finally got the opening goal four minutes later when Torosids teed up Hassan for a simple finish.
That goal seemed to signal the opening of the floodgates as Guerrero soon made it 2-0 in the 75th minute with a flying header from a Koutris cross.
Only three minutes had elapsed when Olympiacos were then handed the chance to move 2-0 ahead when they were awarded a penalty after Sotiris Tsiloulis fouled Lazaros. Lazaros picked himself home to convert the spot-kick and send the home fans into another frenzy.
Then, four minutes from time, Vukovic put the icing on the cake with a close-range finish from a Torosidis center.
STARTING LINEUPS
Olympiacos: 93 Jose Sa (GK), 4 Camara, 6 Natcho, 9 Guerrero, 11 Lazaros, 14 Omar, 18 Hassan, 23 Koutris, 26 Vukovic, 56 Podence, 66 Cisse
Panionios: 12 Kotnik (GK), 5 Dominguez, 14 Stavropoulos, 22 Papageorgiou, 16 Oikonomidis, 33 Kosic, 7 Korbos, 6 Makryllos, 17 Sidi Ali, 23 Tsiloulis, 11 Camara
HIGHLIGHTS: OLYMPIACOS - PANIONIOS
