Olympiacos book place in Europa League
Olympiacos book place in Europa League
UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE - PLAYOFF ROUND (LEG 2)
Olympiacos clinched a place in the Europa League group stage on Thursday after holding Burnley to a 1-1 draw in the second leg of their playoff tie at Turf Moor to seal a 4-2 aggregate success against the English Premier League club.
Watch LIVE GREEK TV including full GREEK SPORTS coverage from AGONASport.com!
Daniel Podence rifled home a late goal only for home substitute Matěj Vydra to level matters on the night as Olympiacos did just about enough to protect the 3-1 lead gleaned from last week’s first leg in Athens against a Burnley side who were on top for long spells on the night and were unlucky not to score.
The result means Pedro Martins’ side now go into Friday’s draw for the group stage after negotiating the tricky qualifiers and can look forward to some more European nights this season.
Burnley had the better of a fast-paced first half with striker Sam Vokes missing the target with a golden chance to score on the half-hour mark.
Both teams went close to scoring in a frantic finish to the first half, with Portuguese winger Podence first failing to hit the target when presented with a great chance, and then Burnley’s Ashley Barnes doing likewise.
The home side made a strong start to the second half and they were almost ahead just three minutes after the restart when Vokes curled a superb effort which beat Olympiacos goalkeeper Andreas Gianniotis but not the post, with the ball cannoning off the upright and bouncing to safety.
Gianniotis was then called into action after 52 minutes, parrying a stinging long-range shot from Dwight Mcneil over the crossbar as Burnley turned up the heat on the visiting backline.
Olympiacos were just about coping to soak up wave after wave of Burnley attack, while they also looked dangerous on the counter attack through the pace of Podence and Miguel Angel Guerrero. One such break on the hour mark should have lead to a goal, but Kostas Fortounis fluffed his shot after being teed up by Guerrero.
The breakthrough finally came in the 83rd minute when Podence fired home into the roof off the net on the turn, but Burnley came battling back and pulled a goal back three minutes later through Vydra.
Burnley tried in vain to get on the scoresheet again but Olympiacos held firm and will be joining PAOK in the draw for the group stage.
by Graham Wood
Image Source: sdna.gr
Thank you for visiting AGONAsport.com, the only English based website for Greek sports fans across the world! Like us on Facebook , follow us on Instagram, and Twitter for all the latest news in Greek Sports!